President William Ruto and his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta are expected to meet for a briefing session over the escalating conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In a communiqué shared by State House Kenya on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, the Joint Summit of the heads of state and government of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) , directed the co-chairs to convene an urgent meeting to brief the facilitators on new resolutions aimed at addressing the DRC conflict.

Ruto and Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, are the co-chairs of the joint summit.

Apart from Uhuru, Ruto and Mnangagwa are expected to hold the session with four other former presidents selected by the joint summit to facilitate the peace process. They include Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), Kgalema Motlanthe (South Africa), Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia), and Catherine Samba-Panza (Central African Republic).

According to the joint summit deliberations, Ruto and Mnangagwa are expected to convene the said meeting within seven days.

“The Joint Summit directed the Co-chairs to convene a briefing session with the panel of Faciliators within the next seven days: the briefing should be done jointly by SADC, EAC, and the AU,” the communiqué read in part.

Notify them

As part of the process, the 11 presidents who attended the virtual summit further directed the EAC and SADC secretariat to notify the five eminent persons of their appointment to facilitate the peace process before co-chairs convening the meeting.

“The EAC and SADC Secretariats to notify the Facilitators of the Joint Summit’s unanimous appointment and convey the outcomes of this Joint Summit to the African Union (ALU) and the UN Security Council,” the heads of state stated.

The expanded panel is expected to help Uhuru strike a peace deal in the DRC that has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo.

The inclusion of Sahle-Work Zewde and Catherine Samba-Panza came after the SADC and Congolese delegations called for female representation in the mediation process.

Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who had previously served in the role, was dropped from the facilitation team.

Both Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and his DRC counterpart Felix Tshisekedi attended the virtual summit signal the change of stance and willingness to engage to find a lasting peace in eastern DRC.

𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗤𝗨𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝟮𝗡𝗗 𝗝𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗘𝗔𝗖-𝗦𝗔𝗗𝗖 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗚𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 pic.twitter.com/L1Qo00BpY5

— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) March 24, 2025