A joint summit of heads of state from the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have named more facilitators in the ongoing push to resolve the crisis in eastern DR Congo. During the Summit held virtually on Monday, the heads of state named three more facilitators - all former heads of state from different African countries - who were tasked to fast-track the process to pacify DR Congo. The new facilitators are Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa, Catherine Samba Panza from the Central African Republic and Sahle-Work Zwelde the former President of Ethiopia. They will work alongside Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria who had been previously named as facilitators. The new line up, according to a communique released after the meeting, was agreed upon by the joint summit after putting into consideration gender, region and language inclusivity. Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who had been previously named among the facilitators did not feature on the new list of facilitators. Meanwhile, the meeting, which was among others attended by President Paul Kagame, adopted a roadmap developed last week by military chiefs from the two blocs which detailed immediate, medium and long term measures to attain sustainable peace and security in DR Congo. The military chiefs met last week in the Zimabwean capital Harare and their meeting was followed by that of respective ministers of foreign affairs and defence. “The joint summit ordered the commencement of implementation of the (ministerial) report and the roadmap,” reads part of the communique. The two blocs have previously been mandated by the African Union to take a lead in the process to deescalate tensions in DR Congo after M23 rebels overrun the Congolese government forces and a coalition of militia groups, including the genocidal FDLR to capture different territories in the eastern part of the vast country. The meeting was co-chaired by President Willam Ruto of Kenya and Emmerson Mnangagwa in their capacities as Chairperson of EAC and SADC, respectively.
