A joint summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) has appointed a panel of eminent facilitators to mediate in the ongoing crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The five-member panel comprises former leaders from across the continent and will be chaired by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.
Other members of the panel are former Central Africa Republic president Catherine Samba Panza, ex-Ethiopian president Sahle-Work Zewde, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and ex-South African president Kgalema Motlanthe.
A communique issued after the joint summit, which was co-chaired by Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his capacity as SADC chairperson and Kenya’s President William Ruto who is current EAC chairperson, said the appointments took “into account gender, regional and language inclusivity.”
The summit directed the EAC and SADC secretariats to notify the panel members of their unanimous appointment and report the summit’s outcomes to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
A briefing session is to be convened within seven days, jointly led by SADC, EAC and the AU.
This development builds upon earlier resolutions made by SADC and EAC leaders during the first joint summit in February in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as well as subsequent decisions by the AU Peace and Security Council and UNSC.
These emphasised the need for coordinated efforts to stabilise the region.
The joint summit adopted a roadmap that was agreed by ministers from the two regional blocs during their meeting in Harare on 17 March.
The roadmap outlines immediate, medium-term and long-term measures for achieving lasting peace and security in eastern DRC.
The summit called for the swift implementation of this plan and the commencement of actions based on the roadmap recommendations.
The crisis in eastern DRC has long been a concern for the region, marked by persistent conflict involving armed groups and a humanitarian crisis.
The joint summit was also attended by the leaders or representatives of Angola, Burundi, the DRC, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
JN/APA