The East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have agreed to merge their peace efforts with those of the African Union (AU), as a way of improving coordination in addressing the eastern DR Congo crisis.

The decision was taken on Saturday, August 1, during a meeting between the co-chairs of the Joint EAC-SADC Summit and the AU panel of facilitators for the DR Congo peace process, held in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Co-chaired by Kenyan President William Ruto and his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa, who are the chairpersons for the EAC and SADC respectively, the meeting agreed on a merger between EAC-SADC Panel of Facilitators and the AU structures, who will now jointly report to both the Joint EAC-SADC Summit and the AU.

As part of the operationalisation of this framework, the meeting also resolved to merge the technical secretariats of the AU Commission (AUC), EAC, and SADC into a single Joint Secretariat. The secretariat will be led by the AUC and based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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The leaders also agreed on the need for immediate resource mobilisation, including humanitarian assistance, to be coordinated by the AU Commission (AUC). In addition, the meeting called on all ongoing peace initiatives and stakeholders to align with the African-led process.