{"id":109460,"date":"2025-02-03T17:03:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T17:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/ruto-mnangagwa-to-co-chair-joint-summit-on-drc-in-dar-es-salaam\/"},"modified":"2025-02-03T17:03:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T17:03:25","slug":"ruto-mnangagwa-to-co-chair-joint-summit-on-drc-in-dar-es-salaam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/ruto-mnangagwa-to-co-chair-joint-summit-on-drc-in-dar-es-salaam\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruto, Mnangagwa to co-chair Joint Summit on DRC in Dar es Salaam"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 3<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 President William Ruto and Zimbabwe\u2019s 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Ruto confirmed the Joint Summit on Monday, following SADC\u2019s acceptance of the EAC\u2019s request on Friday.<\/p>\n

SADC agreed to the EAC\u2019s request during a Summit hosted by Mnangagwa in Harare on Friday, which discussed the M23 rebel group\u2019s takeover of the city of Goma, a development that had prompted Ruto to convene EAC leaders on Thursday.<\/p>\n

EAC Heads of State had proposed a joint session during a virtual summit hosted by President Ruto.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Ruto also confirmed participation from President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia.<\/p>\n

The much-anticipated Joint Summit comes amid heightened tensions between Kigali and Kinshasa over M23\u2019s advancements in eastern DRC, with Tshisekedi accusing Kagame of supporting the rebels.<\/p>\n

RDF \u2018militia\u2019<\/h2>\n

Ramaphosa has also criticized Kagame, sparking a diplomatic row after the South African leader referred to the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) as a \u201cmilitia\u201d\u2014a remark that angered the Rwandan President.<\/p>\n

Kagame has repeatedly denied accusations by international observers of supporting the M23. At Thursday\u2019s summit, he expressed frustration with the EAC over its handling of the DRC crisis.<\/p>\n

Kagame fiercely criticized fellow leaders, describing the bloc\u2019s approach to the crisis in eastern DRC as disjointed and ineffective.<\/p>\n

He accused fellow Heads of State of prioritizing national interests at the expense of a collective regional approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cTshisekedi decided we were not doing what he wanted and went to SADC. SADC agreed they\u2019d come and do what he wanted and sent everybody else [EAC] packing. We complied and kept quiet,\u201d he lamented in remarks released by the Rwandan presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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,\u201d Kagame said, referring to the EAC Regional Force\u2019s (EAC-RF) withdrawal from the DRC in December 2023.<\/p>\n

He questioned why the summit, after agreeing to withdraw the EAC Regional Force, acted \u201csurprised\u201d over the worsening situation following M23\u2019s takeover of Goma.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really did we expect?\u201d Kagame asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018Uhuru Process\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Rwandan leader criticized the bloc for being vague on the situation in the DRC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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\u2019t see how we are going to contribute effectively to finding a solution,\u201d he cautioned.<\/p>\n

Kagame also took a swipe at the Nairobi and Luanda Processes, which he said \u201cbecame an end in themselves, and the people leading these processes became more important than the results of the processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nairobi Process became an Uhuru Process, the Luanda Process is like you cannot say anything that will displease President Louren\u00e7o,\u201d he said, referring to Kenya\u2019s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Angola\u2019s President Jo\u00e3o Louren\u00e7o.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Kagame followed up his remarks at the summit with a strongly worded statement on Thursday, rebuking Ramaphosa over South Africa\u2019s labeling of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) as a militia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rwanda Defence Force is an army, not a militia,\u201d Kagame said.<\/p>\n

Responding to Ramaphosa\u2019s assessment of the situation in eastern DRC, where South African forces form part of the SADC Mission, Kagame accused South Africa of distortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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,\u201d Kagame retorted.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 3\u00a0\u2014 President William Ruto and Zimbabwe\u2019s 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\u2019s acceptance of the EAC\u2019s request on Friday. SADC agreed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}