President William Ruto has convened an extra ordinary regional summit on Wednesday this week to discuss the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which saw the rebel group M23 overrun the key city of Goma on Sunday.
- •Ahead of the meeting, President Ruto held talks with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the US Secretary of State of Marco Rubio on the conflict, according to a statement by State House late Monday.
- •Ruto said the EAC meeting will bring together Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and DRC counterpart Felix Tshisekedi who have been at loggerheads as the former accuses the latter of supporting the resurgent M23.
- •The meeting may not resolve the tensions after Tshisekedi replaced an EAC-mandated force in the region with troops from Southern African countries, several of whom have been killed in the latest escalation, and Rwanda has been accused of sending thousands of troops to support M23.
“The situation in the DRC is a very complicated situation piling up for over 30 years attracting forces from the United Nations, SADCC and EAC; dialogue and consultation is the only way to the situation,” President Ruto said during a high-level retreat of the extended bureau of African Union institutional reforms.
“We will listen to all actors and it is our hope that our meeting will come with a way forward,” he added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also called President Tshisekedi “to discuss the bilateral relationship and further enhancing [] ties,” according to a read out by his spokesperson. “Secretary Rubio condemned the assault on Goma by the Rwanda-backed M23…and agreed on the importance of advancing the Luanda Process…” the statement added.
The M23 group, one of many militias in the country, has taken control of vast parts of mineral-rich eastern DRC since its resurgence in 2021. According to UN’s refugee agency more than 400,000 people have been forced from their homes in the provinces of North and South Kivu in the last four weeks, and the latest escalation in Goma has seen tens of thousands more people flee to neighbouring towns.
The developments came hours after DR Congo’s foreign minister accused neighbouring Rwanda of declaring war by sending its troops to support the M23. The two sides traded accusations at an emergency UN Security Council meeting over the weekend which did not lead to any concrete solutions as Goma fell to the rebel group for the second time in 13 years.
President Ruto is the new Champion of the African Union Institutional Reforms where his role includes re- energising the reform process by ensuring the outstanding reform priorities are concluded soon. These reform priorities include the restructuring of the remaining AU organs, institutions and offices, as well as the study on the Division of Labour between the African Union, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States.
