Keystone-SDA
An extraordinary summit of the East African Community (EAC) will be held “in the next 48 hours” on the situation in the DRC, according to the Kenyan presidency. Congolese Presidents Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame are due to participate.
This content was published on
January 27, 2025 – 02:59
(Keystone-ATS) Intense bursts of gunfire resonated at the same time in the center of Goma, a large city in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), besieged and more threatened than ever by Rwandan troops and fighters from the M23 armed group.
“In consultation with heads of state in the region on this extreme situation, we will convene an extraordinary EAC summit in the next 48 hours to deliberate on this crisis and chart a way forward,” the President said on Sunday evening. Kenyan President William Ruto, who currently chairs the regional organization.
“I thank both President Tshisekedi and President Kagame for their confirmed participation in this summit,” he added in a speech.
After the failure of mediation between the DRC and Rwanda under the aegis of Angola, the M23 armed group and 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, according to the UN, have rapidly gained ground in recent weeks.
-“Declared war”
During a UN security council meeting urgently on Sunday, Kinshasa accused Rwanda of having “declared war” on it by sending new troops to support the M23 which is besieging Goma, a town bordering Rwanda where there are a million inhabitants and almost as many displaced people.
A few hours earlier, UN Secretary General António Guterres, who had not so clearly blamed Kigali until then, called on “the Rwandan Defense Forces to stop supporting the M23 and to withdraw from the territory of the DRC. »
Several member states also pointed the finger at Rwanda, notably France, the United States and the United Kingdom, during this meeting.
Sunday evening, Kigali indicated that it was placing itself in a “sustainable defensive posture” in view of the evolution of the fighting on the other side of the border. “Both the Luanda and Nairobi processes urgently require new impetus, in order to achieve lasting peace and stability for all countries in our region,” Kigali also said.
Half a dozen ceasefires have already been declared and then violated in eastern DRC. The latest one was signed at the end of July.
In December, a meeting between Mr. Tshisekedi and Mr. Kagame, as part of the peace process led by Angola, appointed mediator by the African Union, was canceled for lack of agreement on the conditions of an agreement.
