It is two months now since the negotiations began in Uganda, with little progress made.

The ongoing peace talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC government and M 23 rebels holding in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, are again deadlocked. Radio France Internationale, reported yesterday, February 6, 2013 that the government side has requested the Ugandan mediator to present his report while the rebel delegation is unhappy that its concerns were not taken into account during the talks.

Consequently, M 23 rebels are threatening to restart the conflict in eastern DRC. This state of affairs sharply contrasts with the feeling of success among government delegation members; with some getting set to leave Kampala. They argue that the instructions of Heads of State of the Great Lakes Region on how to conduct the talks were respected.

According to Member of Parliament, Oscar Nsamane, the rebels presented their demands to which the government responded; and it is now left to the mediator to draw his conclusions. On the other hand, Stanislas Baléké, a member of the M 23 delegation, sees things differently. He warned that if the DRC government took their demands lightly, they will be obliged to return to war.

The situation at the ongoing DRC peace talks in Uganda was further complicated last week by the failure of stakeholders to sign a regional peace deal on the country in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is not yet clear what happened, as the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, was in Addis Ababa for the event. Irked by the last minute failure, the UN Security Council on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, demanded an explanation from the Secretary General’s office. Officially, UN officials say there is no problem with the proposed deal. Ban Ki-moon’s Chief of Staff, Susana Malcorra, told the Security Council that the failure to sign the peace deal was due to a procedural hitch.