The March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group canceled a scheduled direct negotiation session with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, blaming sanctions by the European Union (EU) as a barrier.

KINSHASA/LUANDA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group unilaterally canceled a scheduled direct negotiation session with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), blaming sanctions by the European Union (EU) as a barrier.

Regional mediation efforts have stalled as calls for a cease-fire have yet to yield results on the ground.

M23 BACKING OUT

Talks with the DRC government, scheduled for Tuesday in Luanda, the capital of Angola, "have become impracticable," the M23 said in a statement late Monday.

The much-anticipated direct meeting between the DRC government and M23 rebels was brokered by Angolan President Joao Lourenco, a key player in the Luanda Process, a peace mechanism backed by the African Union (AU).

"All conditions have been met for the negotiations to begin on March 18, as planned," the Angolan president said late Monday, adding that the DRC government delegation had already arrived in Luanda, while the M23 delegation was expected later.

Late Tuesday, the Angolan Foreign Ministry said the talks were called off due to "reasons and circumstances of force majeure."

BLAMING EU SANCTIONS

The M23 said that "certain international institutions" are deliberately trying to sabotage peace efforts in the DRC and obstruct the negotiations.

"Successive sanctions imposed on our members, including those enacted on the eve of the Luanda discussions, severely undermine direct dialogue and make any progress impossible," said the M23, referring to the sanctions announced on Monday by the EU against certain M23 leaders and Rwandan military commanders, including M23 political leader Bertrand Bisimwa.

"This attitude on the part of the EU, which amounts to a double-standard policy, forces the Congo River Alliance (AFC) to reconsider its participation in the Luanda talks until further notice," Corneille Nangaa, political leader of the AFC, a politico-military group allied with the M23, said late Monday.

On Tuesday, Jean-Marc Chataigner, former EU ambassador to the DRC, dismissed the M23's explanation for backing out of the peace talks as a poor excuse.

"There is no connection! The EU sanctions in no way prevented Angola from hosting a delegation from the M23," Chataigner said in a post on social media. "It is a poor excuse to avoid the pressure of diplomatic negotiations to find a peaceful solution in the DRC."

The M23 earlier urged DRC President Felix Tshisekedi to make an unequivocal public declaration committing to direct negotiations. The DRC government has consistently considered it a red line to sit at the same negotiation table with the rebels, who have seized large chunks of land in the eastern North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

CUTTING TIES

Almost simultaneously with the announcement of the EU sanctions, Rwanda announced on Monday that it would sever diplomatic ties with Belgium and order all Belgian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

"The government of Rwanda notified the government of Belgium today of its decision to sever diplomatic relations, effective immediately," the Rwandan Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "This decision follows careful consideration of multiple factors, all tied to Belgium's regrettable efforts to sustain its neocolonial delusions."

The statement accused Belgium of consistently undermining Rwanda, both historically and amid the ongoing conflict in the DRC, where Belgium "has played a deep and violent role, especially in actions against Rwanda."

The DRC has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23, while Rwanda says the DRC's military has allied with the Rwandan rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which is accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide.

Belgium has been critical of Rwanda's alleged involvement in the conflict in the eastern DRC, particularly its reported support for the M23 rebel group, an accusation Rwanda denies.

Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on social media that Belgium "regretted" Rwanda's "disproportionate" decision and announced reciprocal measures -- declaring Rwandan diplomats persona non grata and terminating bilateral cooperation agreements.

MEDIATION EFFORTS AT STANDSTILL

On Monday, two regional blocs -- the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) -- convened a ministerial meeting in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, to find ways for a permanent cease-fire.

The ministers agreed to undertake confidence-building measures at both the political and military levels within the merged Luanda and Nairobi processes to try to strike a permanent cease-fire in the next few months.

At a joint summit February of the EAC and the SADC in the Tanzanian port city of Dar es Salaam, African leaders agreed to merge the two peace initiatives into a single framework.

Weeks later, the EAC and the SADC announced the appointment of former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as the facilitators of the joint "Luanda/Nairobi Process."

However, the DRC government and its regional partners remain divided on the future direction of the Nairobi and Luanda peace processes, as mediation efforts continue to stall.

The DRC has pushed for a formal "alignment" to ensure that both processes, which are viewed as complementary, are elevated to the same organizational level.

"The two processes involve different targets and different stakeholders," noted Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, foreign minister of the DRC, in early March. She stressed that the Nairobi Process should also come under the auspices of the AU.

Last week, the SADC confirmed that it would end the mandate of the SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) and begin a phased withdrawal of its troops.

Deployed in December 2023, the SAMIDRC includes military personnel from Malawi, South Africa, and Tanzania, who have supported the DRC's army in combating armed groups in the volatile eastern region. However, the mission has faced casualties, raising doubts about its capacity to meet its objectives amid intensifying violence.

About 1 million people, including around 400,000 children, have been displaced since late January, with figures likely to rise further as hostilities continue in both South Kivu and North Kivu, the UN said on Monday.