It was gathered from Democratic Republic of Congo that the country is ready to re-start peace talk with the M23 rebels in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.

According to CEOAFRICA.com findings from sources, the Information Minister Lambert Mende says the present government is determined more than ever to find solution to the current conflict in the North Kivu province.

“Our delegation has never totally left Uganda. So anytime we are ready, even [Friday] we are ready, for the talks. What we need as a government is [for] the M23 to disarm themselves and dissolve as an armed group. We cannot discuss with them while they are still armed and killing our people.”

Furthermore, the peace talk, according to Mendes, was triggered by head of states’ decisions in the Great Lakes region that the conflict should be resolved through the means of dialogue.
The African leaders, who met Thursday in Kampala to find ways of ending the conflict, demanded the talks begin within three days and end within 14 days.

However, some analysts believed that the breakdown of the talk led to resumption of conflict in the region, but, Mende denied the talks with the rebels have stalled.

“We have never stopped these talks. We have given to the facilitator our draft for conclusions and so did the M23, so both of us were waiting the synthesized documents from the government of Uganda, so as to approve or reject [the proposals]. So what the heads of state say did not disturb us at all. We really need to finalize these talks and we are happy that they [the African leaders] have put a deadline of 14 days.” Mendes said.

Mende therefore frowned at the rebel’s action of attacking unharmed civilians while talk was ongoing in Uganda.

“They started attacking the FARDC in the field. So, now if they accept to resume talks, [then] let them stop fighting in the field. They are Congolese and we are very ready to discuss with them, so it is a good thing if we can resume talks,” said Mende.