NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 3 — President William Ruto and Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa will co-chair a Joint summit of EAC and SADC on Saturday, as the two regional blocs seek consensus on resolving the conflict in Eastern DRC.
President Ruto confirmed the Joint Summit on Monday, following SADC’s acceptance of the EAC’s request on Friday.
SADC agreed to the EAC’s request during a Summit hosted by Mnangagwa in Harare on Friday, which discussed the M23 rebel group’s takeover of the city of Goma, a development that had prompted Ruto to convene EAC leaders on Thursday.
EAC Heads of State had proposed a joint session during a virtual summit hosted by President Ruto.
While confirming the Joint Summit, President Ruto said his Tanzanian counterpart, Samia Suluhu, had agreed to host regional leaders in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.
He added that President Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda have confirmed their attendance at the meeting, which will be preceded by a ministerial meeting on Friday.
Ruto also confirmed participation from President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia.
The much-anticipated Joint Summit comes amid heightened tensions between Kigali and Kinshasa over M23’s advancements in eastern DRC, with Tshisekedi accusing Kagame of supporting the rebels.
RDF ‘militia’
Ramaphosa has also criticized Kagame, sparking a diplomatic row after the South African leader referred to the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) as a “militia”—a remark that angered the Rwandan President.
Kagame has repeatedly denied accusations by international observers of supporting the M23. At Thursday’s summit, he expressed frustration with the EAC over its handling of the DRC crisis.
Kagame fiercely criticized fellow leaders, describing the bloc’s approach to the crisis in eastern DRC as disjointed and ineffective.
He accused fellow Heads of State of prioritizing national interests at the expense of a collective regional approach.
“Tshisekedi decided we were not doing what he wanted and went to SADC. SADC agreed they’d come and do what he wanted and sent everybody else [EAC] packing. We complied and kept quiet,” he lamented in remarks released by the Rwandan presidency.
“But really, to have even had the EAC expelled from eastern DRC and for everybody to comply, and then remain quiet as if it was normal or okay for everything to be dictated by the country or person we are trying to help,” Kagame said, referring to the EAC Regional Force’s (EAC-RF) withdrawal from the DRC in December 2023.
He questioned why the summit, after agreeing to withdraw the EAC Regional Force, acted “surprised” over the worsening situation following M23’s takeover of Goma.
“What really did we expect?” Kagame asked.
‘Uhuru Process’
The Rwandan leader criticized the bloc for being vague on the situation in the DRC.
“If we keep saying good things and being nice to each other while each one fulfills their own interests rather than the common interest we have as East Africans, I don’t see how we are going to contribute effectively to finding a solution,” he cautioned.
Kagame also took a swipe at the Nairobi and Luanda Processes, which he said “became an end in themselves, and the people leading these processes became more important than the results of the processes.”
“The Nairobi Process became an Uhuru Process, the Luanda Process is like you cannot say anything that will displease President Lourenço,” he said, referring to Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Angola’s President João Lourenço.
The EAC-led Nairobi Process, facilitated by Kenyatta, seeks to aid high-level political dialogue among Congolese stakeholders to resolve the conflict in eastern DRC.
Kagame followed up his remarks at the summit with a strongly worded statement on Thursday, rebuking Ramaphosa over South Africa’s labeling of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) as a militia.
“The Rwanda Defence Force is an army, not a militia,” Kagame said.
Responding to Ramaphosa’s assessment of the situation in eastern DRC, where South African forces form part of the SADC Mission, Kagame accused South Africa of distortion.
“What has [been] said about these conversations in the media by South African officials and President Ramaphosa himself contains a lot of distortion, deliberate attacks, and even lies,” he said.
“If words can change so much from a conversation to a public statement, it says a lot about how these very important issues [are being] managed,” Kagame retorted.
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