By Mboneko Munyaga
East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government have appointed five former African presidents as Facilitators for the implementation of the Joint Report of Ministers of the two regional blocs on the peace process in DR Congo.
In a Communique issued after their meeting that was held virtually on March 24, 2025 and co-chaired by Kenyan President, William Samoei Ruto, chair of the EAC and President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, President of Zimbabwe and SADC chair, the EAC and SADC leaders appointed former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo and former Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta as Facilitators for the DR Congo peace process.
Others were Kgalema Motlanthe, former President of South Africa, Catherine Samba Panza, former President of the Central African Republic and Sahle-Work Zewde, former President of Ethiopia. Also, the Summit directed the EAC and SADC Secretariats to notify the “Facilitators of the Joint Summit’s unanimous appointment and (to) convey the outcomes of this Summit to the AU and UN (Security) Council.
The Summit recalled the decisions of the first EAC-SADC Joint Summit on the situation in eastern DR Congo, which was held in Dar es Salaam on February 8, 2025. It also took note of the resolutions of the 1,261st Summit Level Meetings of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union held on February 14, 2025 and the UN Security Council Resolution 2,773 held on February 21, 2025 — “all of which laid emphasis on the need for concerted efforts towards addressing the deteriorating security situation in Eastern DRC.”
In a show of traction for the peace process, the Summit adopted the Report on the outcomes of the Joint EAC-SADC Meeting of Ministers held on March 17, 2025 in Harare, Zimbabwe as well as the Report of the Joint Chiefs of Defence, the Roadmap that details “immediate, medium and long-term implementation measures to attain sustainable peace and security in eastern DRC.”
To conclude, the Summit directed the co-chairs to convene a briefing session with the panel of the Facilitators within a week. That should be attended jointly by SADC, EAC and the African Union. All the eight EAC members attended the Summit although only eight of the 16-member SADC grouping took part. Tanzania and DR Congo, which took part in the Joint Summit, hold overlapping EAC-SADC membership. Absent from SADC were Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros.
The Secretary of the EAC Think Tank, Dr Gerson Funubuki, emphasised the need for transparency in the process and the engagement of all institutions and non-state actors in the facilitation. “This process must not only be credible but must also appear to be credible,” he said.
Eastern DRC has been a peace and security flashpoint following years of hostile activity by rebel militias and allegations of invasion by foreign armies disguised as rebels, especially from Rwanda, charges Kigali vehemently denies. However, M23 rebels — believed to be backed by Rwanda — recently overran three cities of Kivu, Goma and Bukavu in the mineral-rich eastern DRC, leading to the current flurry of diplomatic and political activities to restore peace in that part of the country.
In December 2023, the East African Community (EAC) Regional Force withdrew from eastern DRC after authorities in Kinshasa refused to extend its mandate. Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa have jointly committed about 5,000 troops under the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC), which has been active since mid-December, 2023. However, regional leaders insist on a negotiated peace deal rather than through military action.
According to the BBC, “At least 19 soldiers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi were killed while the M23 rebels captured Goma city last January,” leading to diplomatic tensions, especially between South Africa and Rwanda, which Pretoria claimed helped the rebels fire at positions held by its peacekeepers. In short, DR Congo has never known peace since independence from Belgium in 1960 in a chaotic scenario that led to the assassination of the country’s first elected Prime Minister, the late Patrice Lumumba under the gaze of UN peacekeepers.
Trying to douse the Congo inferno also cost the life of UN Secretary General, the late Dag Hammarskjöld who died in a plane crash in Ndola, Zambia (the Northern Rhodesia) on September 18, 1961 while on a mission to Congo. Since then, thousands have been killed in fighting, sent into exile as refugees or internally displaced in the seemingly never-ending fighting and strife in the mineral rich country, which some term “as the curse of resources.”
Thus, it will be more than welcome news if the EAC/SADC initiative could finally bring peace and stability to a country and people that have suffered for far too long
