Overview

• Under pressure from Qatar, M23 will send a small delegation back to Doha to press for full implementation of the July declaration before substantive negotiations resume.
• Kinshasa officials say they have reviewed a draft agreement and view prisoner releases as negotiable issues rather than prerequisites for dialogue.
• Armed clashes have intensified across North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, highlighting the widening gap between diplomatic timetables and battlefield realities.
• The missed August 18 deadline exposes enforcement gaps in both the Doha and Washington peace processes, which currently lack mechanisms to compel compliance.
• Efforts by the AU, SADC and EAC to align parallel mediation tracks have so far produced symbolic unity without meaningful deterrence of external interference