By Goodluck Musinguzi

The political leader of the M23 rebel group, Bertrand Bisimwa, has appealed to President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to revive the Kampala peace talks.

Delegations of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 took a break from the talks two weeks ago to consult their respective leaders.
Gen Makenga with M23 Leader Bisimwa
Addressing a press conference on Easter Sunday in Bunagana, near the border with Uganda, Bisimwa appealed to the President to reinstate the talks soon.

The talks are held under the auspices of the International Conference for Great Lakes Region (ICGR) and East African Community, headed by Uganda.

Bisimwa hailed Museveni for promoting peace instead of war, and said the Congolese people were tired of war.

He said Museveni’s position in the region put him in a better position to understand Congo’s problems and urged the United Nations to respect his decision.

Bisimwa regretted the decision of the UN Security Council to create and send a joint force in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

He said M23 is the first target of this force yet they have failed to disarm other negative forces for the last 13 years consuming billions of dollars under MONUSCO.

Bisimwa accused the UN of fanning war saying this would affect the citizens whose demands of good governance had been denied by the Government.

“The special report of the Secretary General of the United Nations which was debated on 27th February 2013 has details of the existence of the root causes of the conflict in DRC and proposes a policy approach to solve them,” he said.

Bisimwa urged the UN to promote a peaceful solution by supporting the Kampala talks, instead of choosing to wage war against a partner for peace.

He argued that war would not solve the problems of Congolese, but rather, through dialogue which pacifies souls, liberates minds of communities.

Bisimwa said M23 had managed to return internally displaced people to their communities and most camps were now empty. He said the people preferred to M23 over the government.