Online Reporter
Africa Moyo in NAIROBI, Kenya
SADC Chairperson President Mnangagwa has left Kenya after concluding a joint meeting with President William Ruto, the East African Commission (EAC) Chairperson.
The meeting has been described by the two leaders and other senior officials as highly successful and a potential game-changer.
The President was seen off at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by Kenya’s Public Service and Human Capital Development Minister Geoffrey Kiringa Ruku, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Kenya Winpeg Moyo and Kenya’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Gertrude Angote, among others.
In their addresses at joint meeting, the SADC/EAC co-chairs praised the five former presidents for agreeing to take up the roles of facilitating lasting peace in eastern DRC.
The panel of five facilitators is made up former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Central African Republic President Catherine Samba-Panza, former Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, and former Botswana President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.
President Mnangagwa said the meeting was in fulfillment of the mandate bestowed upon them by the Joint EAC-SADC Summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on March 24.
“Allow me to express our sincere appreciation to you, our distinguished facilitators, for accepting this noble, but onerous responsibility.
“As fellow African leaders, we are familiar with the complexities of the situation in Eastern regions of our sister country of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We empathise with the daily struggles of our brothers and sisters in their cherished desire for enduring peace, security and development,” he said.
President Ruto also thanked the former presidents for accepting to become facilitators.
He said their wisdom and experience would be useful in silencing the guns in eastern DRC.
The Kenyan President added that they agreed to merging the Nairobi and Luanda peace processes to strengthen the quest for peace in the DRC.
SADC and EAC are also encouraged by the extra-regional efforts to end conflict in eastern DRC, as evidenced by the Doha and Washington processes.
African Union Commission Chairperson Mr Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said the AU is encouraged by the efforts of SADC and the EAC to bring peace in the DRC.
However, he reiterated that the AU would be happier if African challenges received African solutions.
