Tinaye Agere
From Victoria Ruzvidzo in LUANDA, Angola
PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA is expected to address the Africa Union Summit on the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday afternoon in his capacity as chairperson of the African Union Peace and Security Council.
He arrived here on Monday ahead of today’s high-level quadripartite meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region.
The United Nations has also been invited to be part of the deliberations.
The conflict in eastern DRC, where the security and humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, is the major focus of the summit.
A number of regional bodies have come up with initiatives to quell the situation, hence the summit seeks to coordinate and harmonise these responses.
AU chairperson President Azali Assoumani of the Comoros will also address the meeting.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat are set to make presentations.
The AU Champion on Peace and Reconciliation, Angolan President Joào Lourenço; SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation and former Kenyan President and EAC facilitator on the Peace Process in the Eastern DRC region, Uhuru Kenyatta, will update the summit on the situation in the conflict zone.
The summit is expected to adopt a joint framework and modalities of effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of efforts in eastern DRC.
Bongani Ndlovu