Kagame talks with the president of Togo and AU facilitators on the security of the DR Congo

President Paul Kagame on Friday, January 30, engaged in discussions with his Togolese counterpart Faure Gnassingbe and African Union appointed facilitators regarding the security situation in eastern DR Congo.

Kagame and Gnassingbe, the AU-Lead Mediator on the eastern DR Congo peace process, engaged in a private meeting prior to convening with the AU-appointed panel of experts, which includes former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia, Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, and Catherine Samba-Panza of the Central African Republic.

“According to Village Urugwiro, discussions centered on the security situation in eastern [DR Congo], the progress of ongoing diplomatic engagements, and strategies to enhance coordination between regional and continental mediation efforts aimed at promoting peace, security, and stability in the Great Lakes region.”

The AU facilitators traveled to Rwanda after their meeting with President Felix Tshisekedi in DR Congo.

Their tour of the region comes in the wake of the signing of the Washington Accords between Rwanda and DR Congo on December 4. The two nations have pledged to tackle the underlying issues of the conflict in eastern DR Congo, which includes the presence of the Kinshasa-supported FDLR militia.

Over the past three decades, the militia established by remnants of those responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi has launched attacks on Rwanda and incited ethnic violence against Congolese Tutsi communities.

Rwanda asserts that the defensive measures established to thwart the FDLR threat will persist until the group, which has not been incorporated into the Congolese army, is fully dismantled.