(Reuters) -Democratic Republic of Congo will send a delegation to Angola on Tuesday for talks aiming to resolve a spiralling conflict against Rwandan-backed rebels in the east, the presidency said on Sunday.
Angola said last week that direct peace talks between Congo and M23 rebels would begin in the Angolan capital Luanda on March 18.
President Felix Tshisekedi, who has long ruled out dialogue with M23, had been considering changing his position after a string of defeats as regional support for Congo has waned.
“At this stage, we can’t say who will make up the delegation,” presidency spokesperson Tina Salama said.
M23 has acknowledged receipt of Angola’s invitation, its spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on X on Sunday, without saying whether it would participate.
M23 made a series of demands after the talks were announced, including asking Tshisekedi to publicly express his commitment to negotiate with them directly.
Angola has been trying to mediate a lasting ceasefire and lower tensions between Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, which has been accused of backing the Tutsi-led rebel group.
Rwanda denies those allegations.
The conflict, which has blighted eastern Congo for decades, is rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.
It escalated significantly this year, with M23 gaining ground it had never controlled before, including east Congo’s two biggest cities and a host of smaller localities.
Congo’s government has said at least 7,000 people have died in the fighting since January.
At least 600,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since November, according to the U.N. humanitarian affairs office.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco on Saturday urged all parties to cease hostilities from midnight to create a conducive climate for the talks.
“The ceasefire must include all possible hostile actions against the civilian population and the occupation of new positions,” he said in a statement.
Both Congo and M23 have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefires in the past.
Fighting did not appear to have stopped on Sunday, as a local official reported clashes in the Walikale region.
(Reporting by Sonia Rolley and Congo newsroom; Additional reporting by Olivia Kumwenda in Johannesburg; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Louise Heavens and Kevin Liffey)
