President Ndayishimiye leads EAC heads of state’s meeting in Egypt over DRC security
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Staff reporter GAROWE ONLINE
- Posted On 09-11-2022, 10:59AM
NAIROBI, Kenya - East African Community (EAC) regional heads of state, on Monday held a high-level consultative meeting on the security situation in eastern DR Congo.
According to EAC‘s communique presidents, Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi who is the current chairperson of EAC, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, William Ruto of Kenya, Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde of DR Congo, who represented President Felix Tshisekedi, Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania and EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki were all present during the meeting held at the sideline of COP27 taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
The EAC 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 military 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.”
Earlier this week Congolese warplane violated Rwanda's airspace, prompting Kigali to send a note verbale in protest of the provocations.
Rwanda's foreign ministry in a protest note called upon the DRC government to observe regional mechanisms established to end the conflict in the eastern part of the country peacefully.
DRC political talks are now set for November 16th in Nairobi, targeting traditional leaders for the first time as well as all other stakeholders ‘to uphold inclusivity’.
GAROWE ONLINE
