The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group cautiously welcomed Thursday the prospect of direct negotiations with the Congolese government to end the conflict in the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Democratic Republic of Congo is considering sending representatives to peace talks that Angola plans to host next week which would mark its first direct negotiations with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group,

Angola has acted as a mediator in the conflict in eastern Congo, which escalated in late January when the Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and took control of the strategic eastern Congo city of Goma. In February, M23 seized Bukavu, eastern Congo’s second biggest city.