MOMBASA, Kenya -- Following a barrage of accusations that the Rwandan government is fueling conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the presidents of the two nations met Sunday to broker a deal authorizing an African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in the conflict-prone region.
Held on the sidelines of an AU summit in Addis Ababa, the face-to-face talks constitute a rarity for the central African neighbors. In recent years, each side has repeatedly blamed the other for arming various insurgencies in the mineral-rich and chronically chaotic territory of the eastern DRC.
The U.N. released a report in June that claims Rwanda is providing logistical and material support to a rebel group in the DRC’s North Kivu province. The group, M23, has seized several towns near the Ugandan border in past weeks. Clashes with DRC government troops and U.N. peacekeepers have displaced thousands, claimed dozens of lives and pushed the specter of a regional proxy conflict back into the international limelight.