The armed group, which has not been present at recent peace talks, has requested a meeting with regional mediators regarding the ongoing conflict.
The M23 terrorist group has said that it is ready to leave the region in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and will support efforts to bring peace to the region even though it is not standing in the negotiations.
M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said on Tuesday, the spokesman of M23, Mr Lawrence Kanyuka, which is led by the Tutsi, who appear to be representing Rwanda, which the neighboring country rejects.
However, the AFP news agency and local sources reported that clashes are taking place between the Congolese army and the M23 near Goma, in North Kivu province.
“M23 is supporting efforts to bring peace to the DRC for a long time,” Kanyuka said, reaffirming the group’s commitment to the ceasefire agreement reached by the leaders of Angola’s neighboring countries last month.
M23, which leads the rebels in eastern DRC and which Kinshasa describes as a “terrorist” group, has previously said it will not agree to the terms of the aborted talks.
On Tuesday, Mr. Kanyuka also requested a meeting with the East African Community (EAC) regional military group to discuss how to use it, and added his request to meet with the mediator, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Kenyatta supported recent peace talks aimed at ending the conflict, which ended in Kenya on Tuesday.
Representatives of about 50 armed groups in the impoverished, salt-rich eastern DRC were present, but M23 was absent. The gang was disarmed after it failed to withdraw and disarm by the end of the ceasefire.
Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from Nairobi on Tuesday, said some armed groups present at the meeting criticized the presence of foreign fighters in the DRC, which they saw as a serious problem.
Over the years, neighboring Uganda and Rwanda have benefited greatly from the DRC’s minerals, Webb explained.
“[DRC’s armed groups] “Let’s say that unless the problem of foreign armed forces and foreign-backed armed forces is resolved, and unless the Congolese army can defend their territories, there is no way they will lose their weapons,” Webb said.
Kenyatta repeated the same. “The problem is the foreign groups that are taking part in the Congo and leaving destruction,” he said during the talks, adding that the groups “leave the Congo peacefully.”
M23 rose to prominence 10 years ago when it took control of Goma, before being driven out in 2013. But it has made a big comeback this year, committing several crimes and gaining power even though the Congolese army is regional.
The two groups have accused each other of causing violence in the eastern region. The DRC on Monday accused the M23 of killing 272 civilians last week, which it denied.
The ongoing crackdown has left thousands of people homeless, the UN says.
This has also led to tensions between Rwanda’s neighboring countries, which experts in the DRC and the United Nations accuse of supporting M23. Rwanda denies this.
Peace talks aimed at ending the conflict are expected to resume in January.
