There will be an immediate merger of the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community and African Union structures in the ongoing regional peace process for the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
The three bodies will now comprise the AU Mediator, EAC-SADC Panel of Facilitators that are to report to the Joint EAC-SADC Summit and the African Union.
This is according to the resolutions stipulated in the joint Communique of the Meeting of the Co-chairs of the joint EAC and SADC summit with the panel of facilitators for the DR Congo peace process.
There will also be an immediate merger of the technical secretariats of the African Union Commission (AUC), EAC and SADC into a Joint Secretariat, led by the AUC in Addis Ababa, to operationalize the joint structure.
That spells the consolidation of the Terms of Reference (ToRs) and related documents for the African Union Mediator and EAC-SADC Panel of facilitators to be endorsed by the Joint EAC-SADC Summit.
The meeting called for mobilization, including for humanitarian support, to be centralized and coordinated by the AUC.
The meeting of the Co-Chairs of the Joint EAC-SADC Summit with the Panel of Facilitators was held in Nairobi, Republic of Kenya, on 1st August 2025 to deliberate with the Panel of Facilitators on the security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
It was Co-Chaired by the President of Kenya and Chairperson of the EAC Dr William Ruto, and the President of Zimbabwe, Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also the Chairperson of SADC.
The meeting was attended by several members of the Panel of Facilitators including, Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President of Nigeria, Uhuru Kenyatta, Former President of Kenya, Catherine Samba-Panza, Former Interim President of the Central African Republic, Sahle-Work Zewde, Former President of Ethiopia, and Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, Former President of Botswana.
The meeting was also attended by Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Musalia Mudavadi, the Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Prof. Amon Murwira, the Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Veronica Nduva, the Secretary General of the East African Community, and Elias Mpedi Magosi, Executive Secretary, Southern African Development Community.
They recalled the decisions of the first Joint EAC-SADC Summit held on the 8th February 2025 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and the second Joint Summit held virtually on 24th March 2025, on the situation in eastern DRC.
They reminisced about the resolutions of the Summit Level Meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union held on 14th February 2025 and the UN Security Council Resolution 2773 (2025), all of which emphasised the need for concerted efforts to address the deteriorating security situation in eastern DRC.
The meeting adopted several documents outlining the mandate of the Facilitators: Framework for the Merger of the Nairobi and Luanda Processes;
Terms of Reference for the Five-Member Panel of Facilitators appointed by the Joint EAC-SADC Summit;
Process Design for an Inclusive Mediation Process in eastern DRC; Proposed Structure of the Independent Secretariat to Support the Facilitation Process; and The Resource Mobilization Framework for Supporting the Joint Initiative.
Call on the AUC to convey to all other ongoing initiatives and stakeholders to align to the African led process and convene a virtual Extra-Ordinary Joint EAC-SADC Summit within 7 days to communicate the outcomes of the Meeting.
The African Union Commission was urged to communicate the outcomes to all African Union Member States.