The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel movement have reached a partial agreement on humanitarian access and prisoner releases following a week of negotiations in Montreux, Switzerland — though significant disagreements remain unresolved beneath the diplomatic language.

A joint statement issued after the ninth round of talks confirmed that both parties had agreed not to take any action that could obstruct the delivery of humanitarian aid to conflict-affected areas. They also committed to releasing prisoners within ten days as a confidence-building measure, and formalised a joint mechanism to monitor the existing ceasefire. The negotiations were held under the auspices of Qatar, the United States, Switzerland, the African Union, and Togo.

However, the tone of agreement masks considerable underlying tension. According to diplomatic sources, the final communiqué was carefully worded to allow both sides to leave the table without appearing to have failed — rather than reflecting genuine breakthrough. Key provisions of a framework agreement signed in Doha last year remain unimplemented, and several sticking points proved insurmountable. The M23 is demanding that death sentences and criminal charges against some of its members be dropped, a request Kinshasa has flatly refused. The group is also pushing for the reopening of banks in territories it controls — which the Congolese government shut off from the financial system — as well as access to passports for residents in those areas and the return of assets seized from its members. The status of Goma's airport, which Kinshasa wants reopened but M23 fears could be used for military purposes, also remains unresolved.

The conflict in eastern DRC is rooted in more than three decades of instability driven by competition over the region's vast mineral wealth and longstanding ethnic tensions. Over a hundred armed groups operate in the area, but M23 — backed by the government of Rwandan President Paul Kagame — is by far the largest and most powerful. The rebels seized the major cities of Goma and Bukavu, situated on Lake Kivu on the border with Rwanda, in early 2025, and now control large swathes of the North and South Kivu provinces. A ceasefire brokered by the United States at the end of last year has done little to halt the fighting on the ground.

Why this matters: Even modest agreements on humanitarian access could bring relief to millions of civilians caught in one of the world's most protracted and overlooked crises. But the gap between the two parties on judicial, economic, and security questions suggests that a durable political settlement remains distant. Each round of talks has so far produced incremental steps while leaving the core conflict unresolved.