The ceaseless state of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) calls for an immediate, bold and responsible reaction from the countries bordering the expansive nation and those that recently welcomed it to the East African Community (EAC).

On paper, DRC ranks as the richest country in Africa owing to the vast mineral deposits and other natural resources found within its borders.

In reality, however, the central African country ranks among the poorest due to the war that has rocked it for decades. The squalor in that country is human-made and indications are that the pitiable situation may not end any time soon.

Since independence in 1960, DRC has never known true or lasting peace. DRC has been a theatre of internecine warfare that has left its citizens impoverished, yet the country has such great economic potential. Countries bordering DRC seem to cherish this unsavoury state of affairs.

It is against this background that we are asking the nations that coalesce under the East African Community economic bloc to step up to the plate and seek a long-lasting solution to the vicious cycle of violence DRC finds itself trapped in.

At the EAC Heads of State summit in Nairobi last month, at which event DRC was officially incorporated as a member, a number of resolutions were adopted, including possible exploration of security alternatives to the mayhem in the country.  Whereas that was a move in the right direction, it was also long overdue and now needs to be executed with speed and for the benefit of the long-suffering people of DRC.

Only on Sunday, the United Nations accused a ragtag militia, M23, of deliberately attacking peacekeepers in the eastern DRC, where fighting between the rebels and the Congolese army had resumed last week. The UN Special Representative in the DRC, Bintou Keita, condemned the incident which took place in the territory of Rutshuru, North Kivu province.

That is only the latest of a series of insurgency and mayhem that have dogged the country for five decades now. DRC has been – since the assassination of Republican Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1962 – a witness to unending conflicts that have legitimised deaths, rape, robberies, illiteracy and theft of natural resources. This must stop now.

This state of affairs is not suitable for an EAC that is preaching economic growth and integration, given that each member State is angling for a piece of the cake in the resource-rich DRC. It is time the EAC stopped talking about the conflict in boardrooms and instead talk bold steps to halt the cycle of plunder and mayhem.