DR Congo: Leaders aim to match African-led mediation with US and Qatari agreements
African-led mediation should be added to the Washington and Doha peace efforts, according to leaders from the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). This is what they want to happen as they continue to work for peace in eastern DR Congo.
On August 13, the leaders of the two groups met virtually for an Extraordinary Joint Summit on DR Congo’s security problem. The summit was co-chaired by Kenyan President William Ruto and his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa, who were in charge of the EAC and SADC, respectively.
Representatives from Rwanda, DR Congo, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Angola, Madagascar, Malawi, South Sudan, and Somalia were there, as well as heads of state.
President Paul Kagame and President Felix Tshisekedi of DR Congo, who signed the peace agreement on June 27, were praised at the meeting for “embracing the route of dialogue” in dealing with the crisis.
The deal signed in Washington, DC, includes, among other things, getting rid of the FDLR, a militia started by people who killed Tutsi people in the 1994 Genocide, and easing up on Rwanda’s defenses.
Leaders of the EAC and SADC stressed that the Washington and Doha peace efforts must work with the African-led process.
This newspaper saw a joint statement from the leaders that said they “welcomed the ongoing initiatives of the Washington Accord 2025 and the Doha Declaration of Principles of 2025 and called for complementarity with the African-led process.”
Eric Mokgweetsi Masisi, who used to be president of Botswana, was named by the meeting to lead the mediation process as a member of the Panel of Facilitators. It also agreed to a plan to bring together the Nairobi and Luanda processes, a way to get resources together, and a design for a resolution system that includes everyone.
Leaders agreed to work toward merging the EAC-SADC and AU into a single body that would answer to both the Joint EAC-SADC Summit and the AU. The AU Commission, the EAC, and the SADC will all have their own secretariats, but they will all work together as one big staff, run by the AU Commission from Addis Ababa.
They also told the African Union (AU) Commission to make sure the agreed-upon terms of reference for the mediation group were followed. The AU Commission was also to coordinate the mobilization of humanitarian aid and resources and let all AU member states know what had happened.
The EAC-SADC co-chairs will continue to lead the way toward what leaders hope will be lasting peace and security in eastern DR Congo. They are in charge of making sure that the decisions made at the summit are carried out.
The summit also reaffirmed decisions from joint meetings in February and March 2025 as well as the AU Peace and Security Council. These resolutions all stressed how important it is to act quickly to fix the region’s worsening security situation.
The chairpersons of the EAC and SADC were also thanked for their leadership, and the secretariats of the AU, EAC, and SADC were thanked for their work getting ready.
