EAC, SADC leaders to hold second session on eastern DR Congo crisis

The Heads of State and Government of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will, on Monday, March 24, convene their second joint Summit to address the security situation in eastern DR Congo. ALSO READ: EAC, SADC leaders approve harmonised plan for FDLR neutralisation When leaders from the two regional blocs first met, on February 8, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, peaceful resolution of the conflict in eastern DR Congo through the Africa-led Luanda and Nairobi peace processes was among the key resolutions of their meeting. The first joint EAC-SADC summit reaffirmed the critical role of the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes and directed that the two be merged. ALSO READ: Museveni reiterates call for Tshisekedi to ‘speak directly’ with M23 rebels Another key element from the February summit was the leaders’ call for the implementation of an earlier approved harmonised plan for the neutralisation of FDLR, a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The genocidal militia poses an existential threat to Rwanda, the entire region, and especially the Congolese Tutsi communities it has been persecuting, resulting in the ongoing crisis in the region. ALSO READ: Why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires The regional leaders’ second joint session, which will be virtual, will be co-chaired by President William Ruto of Kenya, who is the Chairperson of the EAC, and the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who also doubles as the Chairperson of SADC. According to an EAC communique, the joint Summit will deliberate on the report presented during the joint EAC-SADC ministerial meeting held on March 17, in Harare, Zimbabwe. ALSO READ: DR Congo crisis: EAC-SADC ministers agree to pursue political, military tracks The March 17 ministerial meeting pledged to urgently put to action a joint roadmap to bring an end to the crisis in the eastern DR Congo. The meeting, which was convened in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, agreed that the roadmap will elaborates a comprehensive approach encompassing both political and military interventions. At the time, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers, Amon Murwira, said these measures are required to address the complex security and humanitarian situation in DR Congo, in the immediate, medium and long-term. “It is our conviction that the decisions we have adopted, will provide impetus to our peace efforts towards resolving the protracted conflict in our sister Republic, given that no-one but ourselves will bring the peace we want in our two regions,” Murwira said. ALSO READ: Ex-FDLR soldier speaks out on MONUSCO, FARDC support “We have also pledged to urgently put to action the joint roadmap, which elaborates a comprehensive approach encompassing both political and military interventions required to address the complex security and humanitarian situation in the DR Congo, in the immediate, medium and long-term.” The co-chair of the EAC-SADC ministerial meeting, Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, commended Angolan President João Lourenço, who is also the current chairperson of the African Union, for initiating efforts to have direct negotiations between the Congolese government and the AFC/M23 rebel group. ALSO READ: Who are the AFC/M23 rebels, why are they fighting? Mudavadi said all parties converging at the table for talks was the only viable option to bring sustainable peace in DR Congo. “I think what will be important is for us to consolidate and make sure that what EAC and SADC are doing, we move in tandem on these issues,” he said.

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EAC, SADC leaders to hold second session on eastern DR Congo crisis