Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo have been appointed as facilitators in a peacekeeping mission for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Their appointment was announced during a virtual meeting of East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders on March 24, 2025.
The appointments also took gender balance into consideration, with former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, former Central African Republic President Catherine Samba-Panza, and former Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde also named as facilitators.
Their mandate includes overseeing the implementation of the EAC-SADC Meeting of Ministers report, which was adopted on March 17, 2025, in Harare.
The report, along with recommendations from a joint meeting of defense chiefs, outlines immediate, medium-term, and long-term measures for achieving lasting peace and security in eastern DRC.
The virtual meeting was co-chaired by Kenyan President William Ruto, who leads the EAC, and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the SADC chair. DRC President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo also attended.
Other leaders present included Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye, Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, and Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema.
Somalia was represented by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, while Angola’s Minister for External Relations, Tete António, attended on behalf of President João Lourenço.
The EAC and SADC secretariats will officially notify the facilitators of their appointment and communicate the meeting’s resolutions to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Security Council.
The co-chairs are set to convene a meeting with the facilitators within the next seven days.
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