SADC leaders agree to joint meeting with EAC over eastern DRC conflict

Southern African leaders, meeting in Harare on Friday, have agreed to hold talks with their East African counterparts to address the escalating crisis in eastern Congo.

The decision follows a proposal from the East African Community (EAC) during its summit earlier in the week, signalling an effort to align regional approaches to the conflict.

The urgency is clear. The M23 rebel group has overrun Goma, a strategic city in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), dealing a blow to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) military mission deployed to support Kinshasa.

In the battle for Goma, the rebels killed 16 peacekeepers—13 from South Africa, three from Malawi under the SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), and one from Paraguay serving under the UN peacekeeping force, MONUSCO.

The Harare summit brought together Zimbabwean President and SADC chair Emmerson Mnangagwa, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Mozambique’s Daniel Chapo, Madagascar’s Andri Rajoelina,