M23 and Congolese government agree to halt fighting, work towards peace

Representatives from the Congolese government and the M23/AFC (Mouvement of 23rd March/Alliance of the Congo River) rebel groups have agreed on halting the fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a statement released by the two parties on Wednesday night.

While brutal fighting between the Congolese armed forces and the Rwandan-backed rebels has ravaged North and South Kivu provinces since January and previous negotiations yielded few results, the announcement has been seen as a first positive step towards an end to the violence.

Previous truces were however quickly violated and the road towards durable peace in a conflict that has simmered for several decades, is still long.

And while both sides affirmed that the talks in Doha were "frank and constructive", some doubts remain over the progress of the negotiations, which officials described as slow.

The war in eastern DRC has displaced hundreds of thousands of inhabitants and killed at least 7,000 people since January, according to the Congolese authorities.