East African Community banks on SADC to address confidence crisis in its ranks

But while the meeting seeks a solution, it will also address gaps seen in the East African Community bloc, where the Congolese have skipped meetings in spite of their country being on the agenda.

Last week, President William Ruto of Kenya, and the current EAC Chairperson, called for an emergency Summit on the crisis. Congolese leader Felix Tshisekedi skipped it, citing diary clashes. He then showed up in Angola where he held a meeting with President João Lourenço, the mediator of the Luanda Process on the crisis.

Now the EAC thinks a joint summit could cure the excuses of diary clashes by bringing together bodies that are concentric to some members. The DRC and Tanzania belong to both EAC and SADC.

“The significance of the joint session is to avoid forum hitches,” said Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora.

“Let all the parties that are concerned be engaged because when you say that you will attend this segment and will not attend this segment because you feel that your case may not receive preferential treatment in one area or in another, you are delaying the process, and the situation continues to get worse,” said Mudavadi in an interview in Nairobi on Wednesday.

“So it is important that there is a joint session so that the heads of state, both from SADC and the EAC who all want to see peace in DRC let them be together.”

President Tshisekedi has skipped EAC heads of state summits since the DRC joined the EAC 3 years ago making it difficult for any meaningful discussion on the crisis in eastern Congo.

Last week he skipped both the EAC virtual meeting as well as the SADC meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, making it difficult for partner states to seek a lasting solution. The two blocs then agreed to hold one meeting.

Read: Tshisekedi under pressure after rebels seize Goma, begin southward march

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has consistently attended EAC summit meetings, including the virtual one on Wednesday.

“DRC did not attend (last week’s virtual meeting) but that does not mean that we don’t talk to them. It is from there that a resolution was made that the EAC should have a joint meeting with SADC. It was conveyed to SADC and SADC agreed. And that is why we are having this meeting in Dar es Salaam this weekend,” said Mudavadi.

He also said the reason for the joint session was to avoid duplicate processes to address the eastern Congo crisis as members belong to different Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

“As you are aware, there are members of the EAC who have multiple membership in the Regional Economic Communities. They are members of the EAC as well as members of the SADC. There are some in the SADC while others are in the EAC. There are others who are not in SADC but are in EAC and Comesa. We are having this meeting in this context,” said Mudavadi.

“We want concrete approaches through political dialogue because a military solution will have so many casualties and it will not help.”

The SADC Summit chaired by Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa resolved to hold a joint summit with the EAC. "People in eastern Congo have suffered for far too long. While we pause to mourn our loss, our resolve to ensure collective security cannot be shaken," said President Mnangagwa last Friday.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, President Tshisekedi and President Kagame – the main belligerents in the deadly fighting over the past 12 days – are all expected to attend the joint summit, according to President Ruto, who announced it. The meeting on Friday and Saturday this week will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and will begin with a joint council of ministers before heads of state and government convene.

Ruto said Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is also the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics Defence and Security, had agreed to host the summit.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud have confirmed their participation.

One of the points of discussion could focus on the presence of SADC troops in eastern Congo, which is turning into a serious quagmire for South Africa’s government.

In Goma, 14 South African soldiers were killed in what President Ramaphosa termed as due to a violation of a ceasefire agreement between the DRC and Rwanda.

South Africa supplies the largest contingent to the mission known as SAMIDRC, a regional military force dispatched by the SADC, an issue that President Kagame is opposed to.

The war of words between Ramaphosa and Kagame has heightened tension in the region, as Rwanda does not view SAMIDRC as a peacekeeping mission.

“It was authorised by SADC as a belligerent force engaging in offensive combat operations to help the DRC government fight against its own people, working alongside genocidal armed groups like FDLR which target Rwanda, while also threatening to take the war to Rwanda itself,” Kagame wrote on X.

SAMIDRC, however, has been backed by the African Union whose assembly is to be chaired by the Angolan President this year.

Ramaphosa clarified that the presence of troops in eastern Congo was not a declaration of war.

Noting that the M23 had also killed members of Monusco, Ramaphosa said that the UN Security Council had roundly condemned the attack, reiterating that attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.

“A ceasefire is a necessary precondition for peace talks that must include all parties to the conflict whether they are state or non-state actors, Congolese or non-Congolese,” President Ramaphosa said.

It is not clear whether the joint EAC-SADC summit will provide a lasting solution to the crisis in eastern Congo.