Former DR Congo President, Joseph Kabila and retired Nigerian Leader Olusegun Obasanjo meet discreetly in Zimbabwe
The immediate former President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila is reported to have met and held conversations with the retired Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo in the Harare City of Zimbabwe.
Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo is one of the five ‘Wise Men’ who were appointed by the African Union (AU) to spearhead the process of dialogue and peace between the Congolese government, the Rebel groups and other parties involved in the ongoing insecurities in the second biggest country on the continent.
Obasanjo is also among the facilitators that were appointed by the joint East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to help resolve the conflict in Eastern Congo through mediation.
However, the high-level meeting in Harare between Kabila and Obasanjo, the two iconic figures on the African continent, was held discreetly, with what was being discussed remaining undisclosed by the time this was being published.
However, some people close to the two leaders revealed that the sessions were laden with symbolism and a message of recommitment to peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
It is being believed that the former Nigerian leader had pleaded with Joseph Kabila to immediately return to the DR Congo and play a role in fostering peace in the country he once led.
But recent reports from DR Congo were to the effect that, Joseph Kabila did return to the country, going straight to Goma a move which displeased the government officials in Kinshasa to an extent of attempting to ban the former President’s political party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD)
Obasanjo is a former army general and statesman who served as the head of state of Nigeria from 1976 to 1979 and later as the country’s president from 1999 to 2007.
Joseph Kabila on the other hand served as the fourth President of the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2001 to 2019, taking the Kinshasa office ten days after the assassination of his father, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila.