M23, DR Congo ink fresh roadmap to peace in Doha

The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 paramilitary group signed a new framework for peace on Saturday at a ceremony in Qatar aimed at ending fighting that has devastated eastern DRC.

Qatar, along with the United States and the African Union, has been engaged in months of back-and-forth talks aimed at ending the conflict in DRC's mineral-rich east, where the M23 has captured key cities.

DRC and M23 inked a ceasefire deal and an earlier framework in the Gulf emirate in July, but despite the agreement reports emerged of violations, with both sides accused of breaking the truce.

The signing of the new deal, the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, was completed at a ceremony attended by officials from the warring parties, the US and Qatar.

At the ceremony, Qatar's chief negotiator Mohammed Al-Khulaifi called the agreement "historic", adding that mediators would continue efforts to achieve peace on the ground.

Since taking up arms again at the end of 2021, the M23 armed group has seized swathes of land in eastern DRC with Rwanda's backing, triggering a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

Thousands were killed in a lightning offensive by the M23 in January and February, in which the group seized the key provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu.

The July deal signed in Doha followed an earlier, separate peace agreement between the Congolese and Rwandan governments inked in Washington in June.