Leaders and ministers from the southern African regional group SADC gathered in the Zimbabwe capital Friday ahead of a summit on the conflict in eastern DR Congo, raising concerns for regional security.
The extraordinary session of the nation Southern African Development Community SADC was called after the Rwanda-backed armed group M23 captured most of the city of Goma in the DRC's mineral-rich east this week in an escalation of violence spanning decades. Thirteen soldiers from South Africa and three from Malawi have been killed in the conflict since last Friday, most of them part of a SADC peacekeeping mission deployed to the area in South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was due in Harare, but their offices said the leader of Malawi will be represented by his foreign minister.
Lourenco, the African Union-appointed mediator in the conflict, again urged Friday the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC to return to negotiations with a view to a summit in Luanda "as a matter of urgency". Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, refused to attend a meeting with his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi in Luanda in mid-December.
It was unclear if Tshisekedi would attend Friday's meeting, set to get underway around pm GMT. Rwanda has never admitted to military involvement in the conflict.
It is a "belligerent force" engaging in combat operations to help the DRC government and working alongside groups like the FDLR "which target Rwanda", he said. The summit will "explore ways to strengthen regional efforts in support of the DRC, to achieve lasting peace and security," the office of Botswana's President Duma Boko said in a statement confirming his attendance.
