President William Ruto is set to travel back to Tanzania for a joint summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East Africa Community (EAC) on the conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The summit will be held in Dar es Salaam on Friday, February 7, 2025, and Saturday February 8.
According to a statement issued by State House on Monday, February 3, 2025, the summit follows an agreement between the Chairman of SADC President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe and President Ruto who is the EAC Chairperson, with Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu agreeing to host the session.
“A joint summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East Africa Community (EAC) will be held on Friday and Saturday on the conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This follows an agreement between the Chairman of SADC President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe and EAC Chairperson President @WilliamsRuto of Kenya,” State House said in the statement.
Tshisekedi and Kagame to attend
State House further indicated that President Ruto had confirmed the attendance of President Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
The meeting will be preceded by a ministerial meeting on Friday before the Heads of State convene on Saturday.
President Ruto has also confirmed that he had engaged President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Uganda’s Yoweri Kaguta Museveni President Hassan Mohamud of Somalia who have confirmed participation at the extra-ordinary summit.
Ruto chairs meeting on DRC
President Ruto on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, chaired the 24th extraordinary summit of heads of state of East African Community that was held held virtually.
Ruto was joined by six other heads of state from the region including Samia Suluhu (Tanzania), Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Uganda), Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud (Somalia), Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Salva Kiir (South Sudan) and Mayardit, Evariste Ndayishimiye (Burundi).
However, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi was conspicuously missing.
According to a communication from the president, a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the eastern DRC was discussed with the summit calling for the warring factions to cease hostilities and observe immediate ceasefire.
SADC supports peace process
The joint meeting in Tanzania comes days after SADC summit resolved to support the Nairobi peace process led by retired president Uhuru Kenyatta for the Democratic Republic of Congo conflict.
In a communication on Saturday, February 1, 2025, the SADC summit stated that the Nairobi process and the Luanda process led by Angola’s president had their backing to end the tensions in the Eastern part of DRC.
“Summit reiterated its support to the diplomatic efforts to secure a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Eastern DRC through the Luanda Process, led by His Excellency João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, President of the Republic of Angola and the African Union Champion for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa and the Nairobi Process, led by His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, former President of the Republic of Kenya,” the statement read.
The summit attended by 13 member states of SADC included Tanzania president Samia Suluhu, South Africa president Cyril Ramaphosa, Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa who chairs SADC, Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema and Mozambique President Francisco Chapo.
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