A high-level meeting on coherence and consolidation of the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Great Lakes region was held on January 17, 2026, in Lomé, Togo.

The meeting was held at the invitation of Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Council of the Togolese Republic and Mediator of the African Union, within the framework of efforts to resolve the conflict and the security situation in eastern DRC.

According to a communique of the meeting shared by Kenya’s fourth president, Uhuru Kenyatta, via his official X account on Monday, January 19, 2026, the high-level meeting was chaired by Gnassingbé.

Meeting attendees

Uhuru was one of the personalities who took part in the meeting’s proceedings as a member of the panel of facilitators.

Others included former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo (Member of the Panel of Facilitators), Catherine Samba-Panza, former President of the Central African Republic (Member of the Panel of Facilitators), Mokgweetsi Masisi, former President of the Republic of Botswana (Member of the Panel of Facilitators), and Sahle-Work Zewde, former President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Member of the Panel of Facilitators).

Representatives of the DRC, Rwanda, Angola, and Burundi also took part in the proceedings.

“The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and representatives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of Angola, the Republic of Burundi, the Republic of Uganda, the United States of America, the State of Qatar, the French Republic, and the Togolese Republic also took part in the meeting,” the communique reads in part.

Decisions of the high-level meeting

A number of issues were decided during the meeting.

Alignment on the principle of the centrality of the mediation led by the Togolese Republic, harmonisation of the understanding and ownership of the unified mediation process at the African level, and alignment of stakeholders around the revised mediation architecture are some of the decisions that were made.

Other decisions that were agreed upon are the adoption of a Mediation Framework Document, based on the situational assessment and analysis of the dynamics of the peace process, and the adoption of the Facilitators’ Work Plan as operational instruments to guide the coordinated action of the Panel.

Uhuru left the country for the meeting on Thursday, January 15, 2026, with the Office of the 4th President saying that he had travelled alongside other co-facilitators, all of whom are former heads of state.

The delegation was received by Togo’s Foreign Minister ahead of the discussions to mediate ongoing conflicts in eastern DRC, where insecurity has displaced communities and disrupted regional stability.