Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support regional and sub-regional peace processes to end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the Nairobi and Luanda peace processes.

The UK has been active in supporting regionally led peace efforts. My first visits to Africa as Minister for Africa were to Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, to meet with heads of state and encourage engagement in good faith African-led peace processes. I also spoke to the Ugandan Foreign Minister to discuss the importance of an African led solution to the conflict. The Foreign Secretary met with President Tshisekedi in Kinshasa and President Kagame in Kigali on 21 and 22 February to urge them to meaningfully engage in African-led peace processes and honour their commitments from the Southern African Development Community-East African Community Summit. The Foreign Secretary has also spoken to South African and Kenyan Foreign Ministers. The UK remain in close contact with key partners across Africa, North America and Europe in support of regional peace processes to end the conflict in DRC.