Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Friday for a state visit, receiving an official welcome ceremony in Kinshasa just days after the DRC signed a peace agreement in Doha with the M23 rebel movement.
According to Qatar News Agency, the emir landed at N’Djili International Airport, where he was welcomed by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi.
Sheikh Tamim traveled to Kinshasa from Rwanda, a country that Congolese authorities have long accused of supporting the M23 movement. Kigali denies these accusations.
On Thursday, the emir held talks in Kigali with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, discussing bilateral relations as well as regional and international developments, his office said.
Last week, the DRC and the M23 movement signed a framework peace agreement in Doha, marking a major diplomatic effort to halt fighting in eastern Congo. The conflict has killed thousands of civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands of people this year alone.
The Doha agreement is the latest in a series of understandings reached under a Qatar-led mediation initiative, supported by the United States, aimed at resolving a decades-long crisis in eastern Congo that has repeatedly threatened to escalate into a wider regional conflict.
The M23 movement has expanded its control over several strategic areas in eastern DRC since early this year. Congolese authorities continue to accuse Rwanda of providing direct military support to the group, a claim Rwanda denies.
M23 first emerged after the collapse of the March 23, 2009 peace agreement. Most of its fighters belong to the Tutsi community, the same ethnic group as Rwanda’s President Kagame.