KIGALI, Rwanda

French President Emmanuel Macron hosted his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi in Paris on Wednesday for talks on the ongoing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo amid intensified clashes between government forces and the M23 rebel group.

The meeting at the Elysee Palace came a day after the death of M23 military spokesperson Willy Ngoma, who was reportedly killed in a drone strike near the mining town of Rubaya in North Kivu province.

“This exchange reaffirmed France's commitment to respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the DRC in a troubling security context characterized by the Rwandan military occupation of certain localities in the east of the DRC,” the Congolese president’s office said in a post on the US social media company X’s platform.

Macron said he was happy to welcome Tshisekedi to Paris, adding that their discussion also touched on the bilateral partnership between their two countries.

“France fully supports the mediation efforts for a lasting political solution in the Great Lakes region, the cessation of hostilities, a ceasefire, and respect for the authority of the State and the territorial integrity of the DRC,” Macron said on X.

Despite an Angola-proposed ceasefire declared this month effective Feb. 18, clashes intensified between government forces and AFC/M23 rebels Wednesday in different localities in the territory of Masisi in North Kivu, displacing thousands of people from their homes, according to civil society groups.

There have been counter accusations of violations of the ceasefire.

Earlier Wednesday, rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said “the Kinshasa regime crossed a new threshold of violence by launching a large-scale offensive” using “armed drones and heavy artillery to strike densely populated areas as well as our positions.”

The Congo, UN and Western nations accuse Rwanda of supporting the group, which Kigali denies.