The African Union held a crucial high-level meeting in Lomé, Togo, on Friday, January 17, 2026, bringing together key African leaders and mediators to form a path toward lasting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the wider Great Lakes region.
According to the statement shared by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, the gathering convened the Panel of Facilitators and key regional stakeholders to consolidate mediation efforts and strengthen coordination among various peace initiatives aimed at ending decades of conflict in eastern DRC.
The high-level meeting, chaired by Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, who serves as the African Union's mediator for the Great Lakes crisis, adopted several decisions aimed at harmonizing the complex peace architecture.
According to the official communiqué from the meeting, facilitators adopted a Work Plan as an operational instrument to guide coordinated action by the Panel of Facilitators.
The facilitators reaffirmed their collective determination to pursue efforts undertaken to durably consolidate the peace process and promote peace, security, and stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes region.
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The meeting stressed the importance of structured African follow-up to the implementation of the agreements and the evolution of the peace process, with participants calling on all parties to accelerate good-faith implementation of their respective commitments and to prioritize peaceful means in managing and resolving the conflict.
The next phase of the peace process will focus on ensuring close alignment with international initiatives, guaranteeing coherent messaging, respect for political sequencing, and alignment of external support with the priorities defined under the mediation.
Eastern DRC has been plagued by conflict for decades, with the current crisis rooted in tensions between the DRC government and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which captured major cities including Goma and Bukavu.
The conflict has created a severe humanitarian catastrophe, with South Kivu hosting some 1.2 million displaced people as of late October. The violence has also resulted in significant civilian casualties, with hundreds of civilians killed in attacks by armed groups.
The heads of state, Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, formally signed the Washington Accords on December 4, 2025, in a ceremony presided over by US President Donald Trump. However, fighting flared up again just a day after the signing ceremony, with M23 and government forces blaming each other for renewed clashes.
The Panel of Facilitators was established following a virtual joint summit of East African Community and Southern African Development Community heads of state held on March 24, 2025.
The panel includes distinguished former African leaders: Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Catherine Samba-Panza of the Central African Republic, Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, and Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia.
At the Lomé meeting, ministers of Foreign Affairs from various countries participated, alongside the AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf and representatives from the United Nations, East African Community, Southern African Development Community, and other international partners.
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