Online Reporter
Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
SADC Chairperson, President Mnangagwa, has left Harare for Nairobi, Kenya, where he and the East African Community (EAC) Chairperson, President William Ruto, will finalise the formal appointment of five facilitators to tackle the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
President Mnangagwa was seen off at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya, Service Chiefs, and other senior Government officials.
He was accompanied by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Professor Amon Murwira; Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for Presidential Communications, Mr George Charamba, and other officials.
The meeting will be held at the Kenayan State House tomorrow.
Discussions between President Mnangagwa and his Kenyan counterpart, President Ruto, will focus on the formal appointment of five facilitators to tackle the protracted conflict in eastern DRC, which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions of people.
The meeting will also formally adopt the documents relating to the facilitators’ terms of reference and discuss the funding modalities for the team.
The five facilitators are 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.
Other senior officials expected to attend tomorrow’s meeting are African Union Commission Chair Mr Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, SADC Executive Secretary Mr Elias Magosi, and EAC Secretary General Ms Veronica Nduva.
The meeting of the two leaders is a culmination of a resolution by the Summit of the two regional blocs that tasked the chairpersons to operationalise the facilitators’ work.
As part of their work, the facilitators are expected to meet the DRC political leadership and all non-state actors to attain comprehensive peace in eastern DRC, which has been ravaged by war.
The SADC and EAC leadership resolved to combine forces to find lasting peace, especially considering that the DRC is a member of both SADC and the EAC.
The meeting comes after M23 rebels reportedly captured two provinces in North Kivu on Monday after fierce fighting with a local self-defence group, Wazalendo.
Online Reporter