PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will today attend a high level Heads of State and Government Summit under the auspices of the Africa Union here to co-ordinate and harmonise regional responses to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has deteriorated over the past few months.
The Quadripartite summit of the Southern African Development Community, the East African Community, Economic Community of Central African States and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region is being held under the auspices of the African Union.
President Mnangagwa, who is the SADC Peace and Security Council chairperson for June, left Harare for Luanda yesterday.
An experts meeting was held at the weekend followed by the Quadripartite Ministerial meeting yesterday to consider a Consolidated Joint Master Plan and Multi-level Coordination Working Group on the conflict in the run-up to today’s summit. The meeting brings together Heads of State and Government from the four regional groupings. The UN has also been invited to attend.
The deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in Eastern DRC following the resurgence of the March 23 Movement and the presence of other armed and terrorist groups has been of major concern to the continent. This has led to a diplomatic tiff between the DRC and Rwanda, leading to the establishment of processes to address the situation and to de-escalate tension between the two AU member states.
The summit also follows a request made to the AU at the Extra-Ordinary Organ Troika, Plus SADC Troika and the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) Troop Contributing Countries held in Windhoek, Namibia last month to help harmonise and coordinate initiatives in DRC. “The AU and the relevant RECs/RM have taken concrete steps to revitalise the agreement on Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Region (Framework Agreement) signed in 2013,” said a statement from the AU.
“It is against this background that the AU, following consultations with chairpersons of the Union and the Commissions, and the RECs/RM, is convening the Quadripartite coordination High Level meeting of Heads of State and Government of the EAC, ECCAS, ICGLR and SADC to agree on a concerted, coordinated and comprehensive approach to resolve the conflict in the eastern DRC,” it said. – The Herald
