DRC urges ICC to prioritize crimes in country’s east as peace talks yield no progress

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has urged International Criminal Court (ICC) to prioritize crimes committed in the country’s volatile eastern provinces, as a third round of peace talks has ended with no reported progress toward settling conflict.

DRC’s Justice minister Rose Mutombo, who took part on 6 December in the meeting of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC in the Hague, Netherlands, called on the ICC prosecutor to investigate alleged massacres in Kishishe last week. Mutombo reportedly pointed to the ADF terrorist groups from Uganda and the M23 backed by Rwanda, as perpetrators of these crimes. The DRC government accuses M23 rebels to have raided the Kishishe village located about 70 kilometers from Goma and killed over 200 people.

This comes as the peace talks in Nairobi ended after a week of discussions between the Congolese people and their government on how to bring peace and stability to the country. The only agreement was for continued dialogue between the government and local communities. However, the chief mediator at the conference, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, serving as peace envoy from the East African Community (EAC) regional bloc, said this was the beginning of peace in Congo. He said both sides agreed a 20-year-old war cannot be solved in one day but said they must start a path that brings long-lasting peace. Among other things, participants discussed how local communities could benefit from mineral resources, which have been central to most of the armed conflict in eastern Congo.