<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Spanish government on Thursday welcomed the new agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the M23 to establish a ceasefire verification mechanism.</strong></h4> "Spain supports the Democratic Republic of the Congo in its call for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda to lay down their weapons," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. "These are necessary steps in advancing the ongoing peace process," it added. The government of the DRC and the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group signed an agreement in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to launch a Ceasefire Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, the Congolese Ministry of Communication confirmed on social media. Last July, the government of Kinshasa and the M23, an armed rebel group operating in North Kivu province in eastern DRC with the support of Rwanda, signed a declaration of principles in Qatar that provides for a permanent ceasefire in the country and the start of negotiations for a comprehensive peace agreement starting August 1. On that occasion, the Spanish government also welcomed the signing of the declaration of principles, which was intended to be "a further step towards regional peace and stability," and called for "fulfillment of the commitments made to move towards a definitive peace." However, the two sides failed to meet the August 18 deadline to finalize the peace agreement envisioned in that declaration of principles, which was supposed to "align with the Congo-Rwanda Peace Agreement facilitated last June by the United States," according to the statement. The M23 is the most significant armed group in eastern DRC, a region rich in strategic minerals used in mobile phones and electric vehicles. The new Doha agreement provides for the creation of a ceasefire monitoring body composed of representatives from the DRC and the M23, with the participation of the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and observers from Qatar, the United States, the African Union (AU), and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). The conflict between the DRC and the M23 escalated in late January after the militia seized Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and advanced toward Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu. Prospects for a negotiated settlement to the conflict were revived with the signing in Washington on June 27 of a ministerial peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda, as well as with the aforementioned declaration of principles adopted the following month by the M23 and the Kinshasa government.
