Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what representations he has made to his Rwandan counterpart on the M23 rebel group operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo border region.

We regularly raise the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with the governments of DRC and Rwanda. We continue to urge all parties to deliver on their commitments, agreed through the Nairobi and Luanda regional peace processes. I [Minister Mitchell] raised this with President Kagame and Foreign Minister Biruta during my visit to Rwanda in late August, and we continue to engage on this issue via our High Commission. The UK Special Envoy to the Great Lakes recently participated in a UN-led trip to the region alongside French and US counterparts, to encourage de-escalation and a return to regional peace processes over military solutions.