The government of Congo will hold peace talks next week in Angola with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group that has captured key areas of Congo’s mineral-rich east, mediator Angola announced Wednesday.

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. M23 seized Bukavu, eastern Congo’s second biggest city, last month.

Direct peace talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels will begin in the Angolan capital on March 18, Angola's presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.