Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi is set to co-chair a joint EAC-SADC ministers' meeting on the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to the statement, Mudavadi travelled to Tanzania on Thursday, February 6 to participate in the meeting scheduled for Friday, February 7.
The meeting, which brings together representatives from the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), aims to discuss and address the ongoing conflict in the Eastern DRC.
The discussions will set the stage for a joint summit bringing together the Heads of State and Government of the EAC and SADC, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 8.
According to the statement, the summit will be co-chaired by President William Ruto, alongside other regional leaders.
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"This Joint EAC-SADC Summit represents a significant step towards fostering unity, solidarity, and collective action in addressing one of the most pressing challenges in our region. The meeting will hopefully develop a unified regional strategy to support the DRC in achieving lasting peace, security, and development," the statement concluded.
This comes a week after Ruto chaired the 24th Extraordinary Summit of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State where he called on all parties involved in the conflict in eastern DRC to implement an immediate ceasefire.
According to a communiqué from the summit held on Wednesday, January 29, the regional leaders urged the DRC government to engage directly with the M23 rebels to pursue a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
The leaders expressed concern about the escalating crisis which manifested in attacks on diplomatic missions and called on the DRC government to protect the diplomatic missions.
“The summit called on all parties to the conflict in Eastern DRC to cease hostilities and observe immediate and unconditional ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian access to the affected population.
"For peaceful settlement of the conflicts, and strongly urged the government of the DRC to engage directly with all stakeholders, including the M23 and other armed groups that have grievances," the communiqué read in part.
