Ruto convenes first meeting of Luanda-Nairobi Peace Process facilitators amid DRC crisis
The virtual session followed a regional summit held last week and co-chaired by Ruto, who chairs the EAC, and Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the current SADC chairperson.
President William Ruto on Tuesday chaired a high-level virtual meeting bringing together the newly appointed facilitators of the merged Luanda-Nairobi Peace Process in a renewed effort to de-escalate the worsening security crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The facilitators—former Heads of State selected jointly by the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC)—include Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta, Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, South Africa's Kgalema Motlanthe, Ethiopia's Sahle-Work Zewde, and the Central African Republic's Catherine Samba-Panza.
More To Read
The virtual session followed a regional summit held last week and co-chaired by Ruto, who chairs the EAC, and Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the current SADC chairperson.
That summit, convened in response to mounting tensions in eastern DRC, endorsed a harmonised mediation mechanism and directed the two chairs to brief the appointed panel within seven days.
The merged peace initiative comes just days after Angola formally announced its withdrawal as the African Union's key mediator in the Great Lakes region, citing a need to focus on broader AU responsibilities after assuming the chairmanship of the continental body in February.
The Harare ministerial meeting report, which formed the backbone of the new roadmap, outlined short- and long-term measures to restore stability.
These include a roadmap to a ceasefire, the cessation of hostilities, and the establishment of a joint secretariat to monitor the implementation of summit decisions.
In a notable development, Tuesday's meeting chaired by President Ruto proceeded without participation from the SADC side, raising early concerns about the cohesion of the new joint platform.
Nonetheless, the EAC and SADC Secretariats had been tasked with formally notifying the facilitators of their appointments and communicating the summit outcomes to the African Union and the United Nations.
As the region grapples with the possibility of a full-blown regional conflict, the merged Luanda-Nairobi framework is expected to provide a unified front for diplomatic engagement, though its success will depend on seamless coordination between the two blocs and political goodwill from all parties involved.
Top Stories Today
