A meeting attended by leaders from four regional blocs of the African continent started in Luanda, the capital of Angola, on Tuesday, June 27, with the security crisis in eastern DR Congo high on the agenda.

Under an arrangement of the African Union, leaders from the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) will deliberate on the way forward for regional efforts to restore peace and security in eastern DR Congo.

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Leaders to attend the quadripartite meeting include Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta, Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye, EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki, SADC’s executive secretary Elias Magosi, as well as delegates from the Congolese government.

In particular, the meeting will focus on the coordination and harmonisation of regional responses to the conflict in eastern DR Congo, President Ndayishimiye’s office said.

The Burundian leader is also the chairperson of the EAC.

Since November 2022, the EAC deployed troops to eastern DR Congo, a region that has known no peace for nearly three decades and remains home to more than 130 local and foreign armed groups accused of committing crimes and threatening regional stability.

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At the request of the Congolese government, in May, SADC leaders agreed to send troops to the volatile region of DR Congo but it is not yet clear if and when the SADC troops will deploy. Angola, one of the SADC members, also announced, in March, that it would deploy troops to the country, under a bilateral arrangement.

Since mid-2022, Angola’s President Joao Lourenço has played the role of mediator between Rwanda and DR Congo.

The conflict in eastern DR Congo has affected diplomatic relations between the Congolese government and Rwanda, with Kinshasa accusing Kigali of supporting the M23 rebels. Kigali denies the allegations and calls on DR Congo to address internal issues as well as stop supporting the FDLR militia, which was founded by remnants of Interahamwe and members of the former Rwandan genocidal regime’s army, who committed the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

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Multiple interventions including one of the United Nations largest peacekeeping missions have failed to end decades of violence in eastern DR Congo.