African regional summit expands mediation team for DRC conflict

Workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross, wearing personal protective equipment, prepare to carry the bodies of those killed during recent clashes to graves at the UTIGE cemetery in Goma on February 4, 2025. [AFP]

Eastern and southern African countries seeking to broker peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo expanded their team of presidential mediators following a virtual summit on Monday as they try to bring more pressure to stop the fighting.

The East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) -- together comprising 24 countries -- came together in early February for a joint peace push after a Rwanda-backed armed group, the M23, seized large swathes of territory in the mineral-rich eastern DRC, triggering fears of a regional war.