Qatar’s emir visits DR Congo after brokering peace with rebels

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday for a state visit, receiving an official welcome ceremony in Kinshasa days after the DRC signed a peace agreement in Doha with the M23 rebel movement.

The emir landed at the N’Djili International Airport, where he was greeted by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, Qatar News Agency reported.

Sheikh Tamim traveled to Kinshasa from Rwanda, which Congolese authorities accuse of supporting the M23 rebels.

On Thursday, the emir met in Kigali Rwandan President Paul Kagame to discuss bilateral ties and a range of regional and international issues, according to his office.

Last week, the DRC and the M23 movement signed a framework peace agreement in Doha aimed at halting fighting in eastern Congo. The conflict has killed thousands of civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands this year.

The deal is part of a series of understandings reached in recent months under a mediation effort led by Qatar and supported by the US, seeking to resolve a decades-old conflict in eastern Congo that has repeatedly threatened to spill over into a wider regional war.

The M23 movement has expanded its control of strategic areas in eastern DRC since the start of the year, amid continued accusations from Kinshasa that Rwanda is providing direct support. Kigali denies the claims.

The group emerged after the collapse of a March 23, 2009 peace agreement, and most of its fighters belong to the Tutsi community, the same ethnic group as Kagame.