South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit held on Saturday, February 8 in Tanzania, brings hope for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with one of its outstanding decisions being the future inclusion of state and non-state actors like the M23 in talks. ALSO READ: DR Congo crisis: Museveni reiterates call for Tshisekedi to ‘speak directly’ with M23 rebels Ramaphosa has recently, been on the spot over his country’s deployment of troops to eastern DR Congo under an offensive mandate to fight against the M23, a Congolese rebel group at logger-heads with its government over denial of their rights. For instance, on Tuesday, February 4, members of the South African parliament quizzed the country’s defence minister and the chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) on the deployment, with some questioning whether top South African politicians have personal economic interests in DR Congo. “I have just returned from a Heads of State summit in Tanzania on the conflict in the eastern DRC. The outcomes of the summit provide a beacon of hope for the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” he wrote, via the website of the president’s office. Reflecting on a SADC extraordinary summit held two weeks ago in Harare, Zimbabwe and its outcomes, he noted that the best way to resolve a conflict is to ensure that all parties to the conflict are involved in the negotiations that lead to the resolution of the conflict, whether they are state actors or non-state actors. ALSO READ: Confusion as AU chair is barred from EAC-SADC summit on DR Congo He pointed out that one of the most significant outcomes of the EAC-SADC summit was the decision to have direct negotiations and dialogue between all state and non-state parties, including the M23. This will take place under the framework of the Luanda and Nairobi processes. “We are pleased that this inclusive approach was endorsed and adopted at the historic joint EAC/SADC summit under the leadership of President William Ruto of Kenya and President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe,” he noted. “This is a major step forward. Unless all parties to the conflict are brought around the negotiating table, all diplomatic solutions will lack credibility and be unsustainable in the long term,” he added.
