The Congolese government and the M23/AFC (March 23 Movement/Alliance of the Congo River) rebel groups agreed on Wednesday to stop the fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a statement released by the two parties on Wednesday evening.

Although fighting between the Congolese armed forces and rebels allegedly backed by Rwanda has ravaged the provinces of North and South Kivu since January and previous negotiations have produced few results, the announcement was seen as a positive first step towards ending the violence, writes RFI Lusophone Africa.

However, previous truces were quickly violated and the road to a lasting peace in a conflict that has lasted several decades is still long.

And although both sides claimed that the talks in Doha were "frank and constructive", some doubts remain about the progress of the negotiations, which officials described as slow.

The war in eastern DRC has displaced hundreds of thousands of inhabitants and killed at least 7,000 people since January, according to the Congolese authorities.