Congolese church leaders push for peace talks between government, rebels

Nairobi. Congolese religious leaders are aiming to organise peace talks that would bring President Felix Tshisekedi's government, Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and exiled opposition figures around the same table, two officials said Wednesday.

The effort would require getting Tshisekedi to abandon his position of refusing to sit down with the rebels, whom he brands terrorists. But as M23 continues to advance after seizing eastern Congo's two largest cities, those involved in the effort say they are hopeful.

"We, the two churches, Catholic and Protestant, are trying to get the whole world around one table," Msgr. Donatien Nshole, secretary-general of the influential Catholic bishops conference (CENCO), said in an interview in Kenya's capital Nairobi, where he met with President William Ruto to discuss how to combine regional mediation efforts with national ones.

The church-led diplomacy is the latest push for a resolution as anxiety rises in the capital Kinshasa, with some officials seeking to leave amid fear of a coup.

The latest flare-up in the long-running conflict in eastern Congo has killed thousands, according to U.N. figures, and drawn in Congo's neighbours, raising fears of an all-out regional war.

Nshole and Reverend Eric Nsenga of the Church of Christ in Congo (ECC), a union of dozens of Protestant denominations, spoke ahead of their return to Congo following a diplomatic tour with stops in Goma, Brussels and Kigali.

They met rebel leader Corneille Nangaa, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese opposition figures such as Moise Katumbi and loyalists of former President Joseph Kabila.

On Thursday, they plan to hold a prayer event in Lubumbashi announcing a national dialogue initiative that will cover issues ranging from the country's mining policies to the disarmament of armed groups.

U.S. think tank the Pew Research Center estimates 95.8 percent of Congo's population is Christian, almost evenly split between Catholics and Protestants.

Congo's vast mineral resources "are the object of desire at several levels," Nsenga said, adding that "their role is central" in drawing in various actors.

Multiple attempts to solve the conflict diplomatically have stalled, with Tshisekedi skipping two consecutive African-organised summits addressing it, including last weekend's African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

The M23 advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo, rooted in the spillover of Rwanda's 1994 genocide into Congo and the struggle for control of Congo's vast mineral resources.

Rwanda rejects allegations from Congo, the United Nations and Western powers that it supports M23 with arms and troops. It says it is defending itself against the threat from a Hutu militia, which it says is fighting with the Congolese military.