Regional heads of state, on November 7, held a high level consultative meeting on the security situation in eastern DR Congo, organized by East African Community (EAC). In attendance were presidents Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi who is the current chairperson on EAC, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, William Ruto of Kenya and Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania. Also in attendance were Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde of DR Congo, who represented President Felix Tshisekedi, and EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki. The meeting was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on the sidelines of the UN climate conference (COP27), and the regional leaders discussed the peace process for the eastern DR Congo. The security situation in eastern DRC has worsened since May this year when the M23 launched renewed attacks on the government forces FARDC, citing an ignored agreement signed in 2013. The M23 has since captured strategic territories, threatening to reach Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu Province. The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebels, but Kigali dismisses the claims, calling the conflict an intra-Congolese issue. Rwanda has instead denounced the collaboration between the FARDC and FDLR, a miliatia accused of perpetrating the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. Diplomatic tensions between the two neighbouring countries continue to rise following DR Congo's expulsion of the Rwandan ambassador in Kinshasa, Vincent Karega - a move Kigali said was “regrettable.” On Monday, a Congolese warplane violated Rwanda's airspace, prompting Kigali to send a note verbale in protest of the provocations. In the protest note, Rwanda's foreign ministry urged the Congolese government to observe regional mechanisms established to end the conflict in the eastern part of the country peacefully.
