By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Leaders of East and Southern Africa are currently meeting in the first-ever joint summit of the blocs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where the call for a lasting solution to the heightened conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is at the forefront.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which has been blamed for the conflict, captured Goma late last month, the largest city in eastern DRC, igniting the worst escalation of fighting in more than a decade and leaving thousands dead.
Despite announcing a unilateral ceasefire, the rebels have continued to march south towards the city of Bukavu.
“We must resist the temptation to think that we can somehow shoot or bombard our way to a solution,” Kenyan President William Ruto said at the opening of the summit on Saturday.
At the Tanzania summit, attended by eight heads of state, including Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Ruto and other African leaders were unanimous in their call for concrete results to end the crisis. DRC President Félix Tshisekedi joined the summit via video link.
“History will judge us harshly if we remain still and watch the situation worsen, day by day,” said the host, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Analysts believe that the joint summit of the blocs highlights the continent’s deep concern over the crisis and the standoff between Congo and neighbouring Rwanda. Kigali has denied allegations that it is fuelling the conflict with its own troops and weapons.
This fault line makes it “difficult to be optimistic” about the summit, said Stephanie Wolters, Senior Research Fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
Leaders must push Kinshasa to reconsider its refusal to talk directly to the M23, while clearly calling out Rwandan support for the rebels and demanding an immediate end to it, she said.
Over the past month, M23’s advances have expanded its control over North Kivu province’s lucrative coltan, gold, and tin ore mines, displacing thousands in what was already one of the world’s most dire humanitarian crises.
Ahead of the summit, the United States warned of possible sanctions against Rwandan and Congolese officials, further raising the stakes for finding a solution to a conflict rooted in the longstanding fallout from the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s mineral resources in the DRC regions.
