Summit in Tanzania: Towards a return to peace in DRC?

It’s not every day that this happens. Several heads of state and government gathered for an extraordinary joint regional summit between the heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on February 8, 2025, to discuss the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since the M23 rebel group captured the city of Goma on January 27, nearly 3,000 people have been killed.

Although the outcome is still pending, the leaders of the two sub-regional organizations are already calling for “an immediate ceasefire and an end to the fighting.” What can we expect from peace? 

The summit is a very rare occurrence, because on the question of the DRC, these two communities don’t often collaborate.

“Dar es Salaam seems different from the other diplomatic steps taken by the two parties involved in the war in North and South Kivu [M23 and the Congolese army], with this request for an immediate ceasefire,” says Lucien Sebuke, a journalist based in Goma. Lucien is a journalist specializing in political issues and presents the political column on Goma University radio.

For several months, the city of Goma has been cut off from the rest of the country by road. The M23’s first decision to ban maritime traffic in the early hours after the capture of Goma closed the only road in and out of Goma. The joint summit then called for the reopening of the Goma-Sake-Bukavu, Goma-Kibumba-Rumangabo-Kalengera-Rutshuru-Bunagana, and Goma-Kiwanja-Rwindi-Kanyabayonga-Lubero road axis. 

Also concerned is the resumption of river navigation on Lake Kivu between Goma and Bukavu. “Let’s see how this is really going to work. These roads are important for human traffic and the transport of food products. But who’s going to secure them? It’s a vast region, and as far as North Kivu is concerned, a large part of these routes is under M23 control,” points out Sebuke.

Luanda and Nairobi have been stalling for almost 3 years

The joint summit has proposed merging the two peace processes currently underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): the Luanda process, led by Angolan President Joao Lourenço, and the Nairobi process, led by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The rivalry between the two communities is one of the causes of the failure of Luanda and Nairobi, according to Daddy Saleh, university professor and political essayist. 

“Up until now, the SADC has supported Kinshasa (the DRC) in its refusal to negotiate, and is helping the government militarily with its forces to recover the territories. Moreover, it has held Rwanda responsible in its communiqués. The EAC, on the other hand, does not support Kinshasa’s approach, but Kigali’s, which states that Rwanda is not involved and that the situation in the DRC is an internal political crisis to be managed through dialogue. This is really what is blocking the merger,” he says.

“Each community trusted its own process and mediator. Nairobi is in the logic of a dialogue with the national armed groups, including the M23, before being excluded after the resumption of hostilities. But Luanda is in the logic of a dialogue between the DRC and Rwanda, especially the conciliation of points of view between Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and Paul Kagame of Rwanda” adds Saleh.

By merging the two processes, the Dar es Salaam summit faces a major challenge in reconciling these two extremes. The roles of Joao Lorenzo and Uhuru Kenyatta also need to be clarified, and above all the willingness of the two regional communities to make constructive concessions to resolve the problem. “Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame need to show their good will, and SADC and EAC need to tell these heads of state,” says a diplomatic source.

There is hope for peace

“The joint summit asked the heads of the defense forces of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to meet within five days and provide technical guidance on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of hostilities,” said a spokesman at the end of the summit.

Sebuke felt that the massacre in Goma should call on all parties to ensure that nothing like it happens again. “We hope that the human and material damage caused by the attack on Goma will enable the two belligerents to take future decisions that will have less of a negative impact on civilian populations,” he said, adding, “everything must be done to preserve human life, it’s abnormal. Hope for peace will also lie in sanctions against the perpetrators of crimes against civilians in particular. We were very pleased to see that the International Criminal Court wants to investigate these crimes.”

For his part, Professor Daddy Saleh believes that there is hope for peace in the region, particularly with the positions taken to secure Goma, but now is not the time for rhetoric but for action.

“The securing of Goma is good news, because Goma needs to be protected, with its millions of inhabitants and internally displaced people. It’s more than urgent because Goma is deprived of almost everything. The more time passes without action, the more problems there will be. This is the major resolution”, he says.

Keywords: DR Congo, DRC, Congo, Conflict, Goma, Kivu, M23, Congolese, Conflict Resolution, peace, summit, Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam