DRC: appointment of 3 new conflict mediators

Three personalities have been appointed to be coordinators of the Luanda-Nairobi talks in the conflict raging in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They are the former president of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyata and the former prime minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn.

These three former politicians were appointed mediators in the joint talks in Luanda and Nairobi, aimed at finding peace in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the region in general.

The decision was announced by the President of Kenya and Chief Executive of the East African Community (EAC), Dr. William Samoei Ruto, and the President of Zimbabwe and Chief Executive of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Emmerson Mnangagwa, on 24 February 2025.

From left to right, Uhuru Kenyata, Olusegun Obasanjo and Hailemariam Desalegn

Presidents Ruto and Mnangagwa explained that the decision to appoint these mediators was taken at the meeting of the EAC and SADC Heads of State in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on February 8 this year 2025.

This is not the first time that Obasanjo has become a mediator on the issue of eastern DRC, since in 2008, he was the representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in the talks between the government of the DRC and the armed group of the CNDP, then led by General Laurent Nkunda.

Uhuru Kenyata has also been mediating the Congolese conflict and the DRC government in the Nairobi talks since April 2022.

The talks were suspended in December 2022 after the DRC government reached an agreement with the EAC countries.

President João Lourenço, who leads Angola, withdrew from the talks, after taking over as head of the African Union (AU). He had already been the coordinator of the Luanda talks since 2022.

At the Dar es Salaam meeting, the heads of state of these organisations concluded that before talks could begin between the DRC government and rebel groups, including the M23, fighting and provocations in eastern DRC must cease, relief operations must be carried out and the roads and airport in Goma must be opened.