EU Urges DR Congo Rebels, Region to Commit to Peace

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo and regional players to commit to peace Saturday as fighting flared again, days after peace talks failed.

A statement from Ashton's office expressing strong concern over a second day of clashes in the northeast urged "the M23 to commit urgently to a peaceful solution based on the provisions" laid out in peace talks in Kampala that broke down on Monday.

She also called on "all actors in the region to prevent further escalation and internationalization of the conflict."

"The reported impact across the border in Rwanda of recent actions should also be jointly investigated," she said.

Neighboring Rwanda has accused DR Congo troops of firing three shells over the border into its territory and threatened to retaliate if the firing continued.

Rebels claimed the army attacked their positions early Friday, but the military insisted it came under attack first -- a claim supported by a source from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO.

Ashton reiterated that the region had agreed to a framework calling for an end to support for armed groups and urged "all actors to live up to their responsibilities to ensure peace."

Former colonial power Belgium also expressed deep concern, its Foreign Minister Didier Reynders warning that "the immediate victims of this violence will once again be the local population."

Fierce clashes resumed at dawn on Saturday north of the big strategic city of Goma between the army and the M23 rebels.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, said Friday that it was "extremely concerned" about the fresh hostilities, calling on the M23 rebels to return to the negotiating table.

The U.N. Security Council in March approved the deployment of a special African brigade of up to 3,000 troops -- under MONUSCO command and led by a Tanzanian general -- with an unprecedented mandate to target rebel groups in DR Congo.

On Monday, the rival sides both announced a halt to peace talks taking place in the Ugandan capital Kampala despite U.N. pressure to end the 18-month-old rebellion ravaging eastern DR Congo.

Backed by the international community, DR Congo's government is refusing to give amnesty to about 80 leaders of the M23 rebels and to enlist these men into military ranks.

Members of the M23 group are mainly Tutsi fighters from an earlier rebellion who were incorporated into the army in 2009 and then mutinied in 2012, claiming that Kinshasa had failed to keep its part of a peace deal.