East African Heads of State Meet to Resolve Congo Crisis

East African leaders have issued a fresh call  for armed groups in eastern DR Congo to lay down their arms and withdraw, at a summit called to find ways of calming the raging conflict.

This was during the 20th extraordinary summit of the East African Heads of State on Feb 4.

The talks were hosted in Burundi by the seven-nation East Africa Community (EAC), which is leading mediation efforts to end the fighting in the vast central African nation.

A resurgent rebel group known as the M23 has taken swathes of land in the mineral-rich east and is still advancing despite a peace roadmap hammered out in the Angolan capital in July last year and the deployment of an EAC force in November.

The heads of state called for an “immediate ceasefire by all parties” and the withdrawal of all armed groups, including foreign, in a statement issued after the summit said.

Present in Burundi’s lakeside economic hub of Bujumbura were the host President of Burundi, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President William Ruto of Kenya, President Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. 

Details are in the joint communique below.

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