NAIROBI, Kenya — East and Southern African leaders have endorsed a plan to merge regional mediation efforts under the African Union while pledging to align them with recent global peace initiatives, in a push to end the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Meeting virtually on Aug. 13, the Joint Extraordinary Summit of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) welcomed the Washington Accord 2025 and the Doha Declaration of Principles 2025, calling for their “complementarity with the African-led process.”
The summit resolved to immediately merge the EAC-SADC and AU mediation structures into a single panel of facilitators, supported by a joint secretariat led by the AU Commission in Addis Ababa. Leaders said the goal is to consolidate resources and ensure international initiatives reinforce — rather than duplicate — Africa’s own conflict-resolution frameworks.
“The African-led process must remain at the center,” the summit communique said, urging the AU to coordinate with all other initiatives and keep stakeholders informed of the alignment strategy.
The leaders also endorsed a merger of the Nairobi and Luanda peace tracks, which have been running in parallel, into one inclusive mediation framework. The AU Commission was tasked with mobilizing resources, including humanitarian aid, to support the process.
Regional observers say linking the Washington and Doha agreements to Africa’s mediation structure could help maintain international momentum while giving African institutions the lead in resolving one of the continent’s most complex security crises.
The eastern DRC has been plagued by decades of armed group violence, with recent tensions between Kinshasa and Kigali raising fears of a wider regional conflict. The summit commended Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame for committing to dialogue as part of the peace effort.
