On Sunday, March 16, the Chief of Defence Staff of the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF), Gen Mubarakh Muganga, participated in a high-level meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, alongside senior officials from the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The meeting aimed to assess the agenda for an upcoming ministerial gathering focused on the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), scheduled for Monday.
Discussions covered a report from the Joint Meeting of Chiefs of Defence, which addressed key issues such as the ceasefire, cessation of hostilities, and the formation of a Secretariat-level Technical Coordination Mechanism to oversee the implementation of decisions made during the February Joint Summit. These measures were adopted in response to the escalating conflict between the Congolese government and M23 rebels.
Gen Muganga was joined by Brig Gen Stanislas Gashugi, the Special Operations Force Commander and Head of Defence Intelligence.
This meeting followed a session held two days earlier in Nairobi, Kenya, where EAC foreign affairs and defence ministers outlined a roadmap for restoring peace and stability in eastern DRC and explored technical assistance for the EAC-SADC peace initiative.