China cups clinked as delegates from the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, the M23 rebel group and several international mediators and observers milled around a sea of circular tables, covered in white table-cloths. Uganda's President Museveni was not yet in attendance, but his palatial State House was set to be the stage of the signing of a peace accord between the rebels' political leadership and the Congolese government.

The delegates were shown to the negotiating room, whilst we, the media, were ushered to collect our equipment before, what we ...