MONUSCO-brokered ceasefire fails to hold as fighting rages on in eastern DRC ahead of peace talks
By last night, three MONUSCO peacekeepers had died in 48 hours in the line of fire between the forces allied to the local army FARDC and the M23 rebels.
A ceasefire brokered by Uruguay, the main force in the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) on Monday night failed to hold as fighting continued near Goma airport and along the border area with Rwanda.
"Following efforts made by MONUSCO, a ceasefire agreement was reached between the factions in conflict. This agreement takes effect from 1900 hours for the complete cessation of hostilities. Members of the Uruguayan National Contingent are about to rest after 96 hours of intense operations. The injured personnel reported in today's announcement at 1800 hours are in good condition. The rest of the personnel are in perfect health," the army said in a brief statement on X.
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This is happening as more efforts to broker peace and address the security and humanitarian situation in Eastern DRC are scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
Amongst them, is an extraordinary Heads of State summit convened by the community's Chairperson President William Ruto today in Arusha, Tanzania.
"After consulting the Heads of State of EAC Member States, we will convene an Extraordinary Summit in the next 48 hours to chart the way forward. The EAC stands ready to forge stronger collaboration with the African Union, Southern African Development Community, and the international community in encouraging the warring parties to give priority to dialogue," said President Ruto while announcing the meeting.
President Ruto also confirmed the participation of Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his DRC counterpart Felix Tshisekedi but the latter will miss the event, instead, he is expected to address the nation on the state of security in Eastern DRC before the national assembly later today.
On Monday at the African Union City, President Tshisekedi spoke with the Heads of the constituted bodies on the security and humanitarian situation in the province of North Kivu particularly in Goma.
By last night, three MONUSCO peacekeepers had died in 48 hours in the line of fire between the forces allied to the local army FARDC and the M23 rebels.
Two of them, from South Africa, and another, Uruguayan, while 11 other peacekeepers have been injured and are currently being treated at the United Nations hospital in Goma.
The Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC) has experienced casualties in the eastern DRC and has also suffered casualties in the ongoing fight accounting for nine lives by Friday last week after two days of intense fighting.
Seven of these were members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and two were from MONUSCO.
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