President Paul Kagame has met a delegation of the African Union Panel of Facilitators following the panel’s consultations in Goma with the leadership of the AFC/M23 as part of efforts to advance a political solution to the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The delegation included former Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi and Yackoley Kokou Johnson, Togo’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The AU delegation spent two days in Goma earlier this week, where it held consultations with the political leadership of AFC/M23, including its coordinator Corneille Nangaa. The discussions focused on the peace process and the security situation in eastern DRC.
The facilitators also met representatives of MONUSCO, OCHA, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism Plus.
They visited areas in Nyiragongo that had previously hosted people displaced by the conflict to gain a first-hand understanding of the humanitarian situation and population movements.
After Goma, the delegation travelled to Kigali, where it continued its consultations with Rwandan officials before meeting President Kagame.
Discussions with Kagame focused on the AU-led peace process and the next steps towards achieving lasting peace and stability in eastern DRC, including efforts to address the root causes of the conflict.
The mission comes as several diplomatic tracks, including the AU, Doha and Washington processes, seek to bring an end to the conflict and establish a durable political settlement in the Great Lakes region.
