The Joint Summit of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has appointed former President Uhuru Kenyatta and 4 other former African heads of state to lead the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peace talks.
The summit which was co-chaired by President William Ruto and Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe also appointed Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria, Kgalema Motlanthe, former President of South Africa, Catherine Samba Panza, former President of Central African Republic and Sahle-Work Zewde, former President of Ethiopia as facilitators of the DRC peace process.
The summit directed the EAC and SADC secretariats to notify the facilitators of their appointment and convey the outcomes of the Joint Summit to the African Union (AU) and the UN Security Council.
The summit also directed Ruto and Mnangwawa to hold an urgent meeting with the 5 facilitators within seven days.
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“The Joint Summit directed the Co-chairs to convene a briefing session with the panel of Facilitators within the next seven days; the briefing should be done jointly by SADC, EAC, and the AU,” a communiqué from the summit read in part.
The EAC and SADC leaders further expressed gratitude to Ruto and Mnangwawa for successfully co-chairing the joint summit and for their leadership towards the attainment of lasting peace and security in the eastern DRC and wider region.
The virtual meeting was also attended by Félix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, (DRC), Évariste Ndayishimiye (Burundi), Andry Rajoelina (Madagascar), Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera (Malawi), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa).
Others were; Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Hakainde Hichilema, President (Zambia), Hamza Abdi Barre (Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia), Tête António (Ambassador, Minister of External Relations, Republic of Angola) and Deng Alor Kuol (Sudan Minister of East African Community Affairs).
