Entebbe (Uganda), Dec 22 African leaders called for regional-led efforts to take the forefront in resolving the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with international initiatives playing a supporting role.
The call was made on Sunday at a one-day regional summit in Uganda's Entebbe, which brought together leaders and envoys to address the rapidly worsening security situation in eastern DRC and its spillover across the Great Lakes region.
Uganda's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs John Mulimba said participants agreed that the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should spearhead peace efforts to address the escalating conflict.
"We have agreed that, whereas we have initiatives such as the Doha and Washington peace process, the region must take center stage, and the region we are talking about is EAC and SADC," Mulimba said.
According to Mulimba, the summit also directed that its communique be revised within 10 days, with a follow-up meeting to be convened within two weeks to incorporate a proposed regional peace framework.
In a statement issued during the summit, Rwanda said there was no need to establish new peace mechanisms, arguing that existing frameworks were sufficient to resolve the decades-long conflict.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said the main challenge lay in the lack of implementation of agreements already reached. He described the Washington accord and the Doha peace initiatives as the most viable frameworks for addressing both the internal and regional dimensions of the conflict, Xinhua news agency reported.
Biruta also reiterated Rwanda's concern over the presence of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a dissident group linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, warning that failure to address this issue "undermines trust and continues to pose a serious threat to regional security."
Earlier this month, Rwanda and the DRC signed a US-brokered peace agreement in Washington aimed at ending decades of fighting. However, clashes have since intensified in eastern DRC, with the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group advancing to new positions.
The M23 said this week it had begun withdrawing from Uvira, a strategic eastern Congolese city it captured days earlier, adding that the move was made at the request of US mediators as a confidence-building measure to support the peace process.
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