Congo blames Uganda for failure of talks with M23

The Congolese government has blamed Uganda for the failure of negotiations with rebels of the March 23 movement (M23).

“Uganda seems now to be acting as part of the conflict. It has interests in M23,” said Lambert Mende, a spokesman for Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

“What are we supposed to sign? No country in history has signed an agreement with a movement that has declared its own dissolution,” added the Congolese spokesman.

However, Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Uganda mediation team defended Kampala’s role in the talks, saying, “Uganda remains the only reliable peace partner for DRC. What affects them, affects us.”

The Uganda-brokered talks between the Congolese and rebel negotiators failed earlier in the day.

The negotiations were initiated after the Congolese army defeated the M23 rebels last week, forcing them to give up their uprising after 20 months.

The M23 rebels seized Goma on November 20, 2012 after UN peacekeepers gave up the battle for the frontier city, which is home to about one million people. The rebels withdrew from the city on December 1 under a ceasefire accord.

The rebels defected from the Congolese army in April 2012 in protest over alleged mistreatment in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). They had previously been integrated into the Congolese army under a peace deal signed in 2009.

Several armed groups are active in the eastern Congo and are fighting for control of the country’s vast mineral resources, such as gold, the main tin ore cassiterite, and coltan (columbite-tantalite), which is used to make many electronic devices, including cell phones.