SADC: the DRC at the heart of the troika discussions

Aerial view of Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.

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3 min

On the occasion of the extraordinary summit of the SADC Troika, the community of southern African states, seven heads of state are meeting this Friday in the capital of Botswana.

The DRC will be widely discussed, against a backdrop of political crisis between the new and the former head of state.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa,

Sonia Rolley

Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has been staying in Gaberone since Thursday.

On the official program, the main theme of the day, this Friday, is the rapid intervention force of MONUSCO, the FIB.

The three heads of state of the troop-contributing countries have been invited. 

South Africa

is part of the troika, but the Tanzanian and Malawian presidents will also be present.

If SADC is organizing an extraordinary troika summit, it is because the UN and its donors wish to open the FIB to contingents other than those from southern African countries, and above all to reconfigure this force to make it more efficient. .

Since the fall of the M23 rebellion, presented as its great victory, criticism has multiplied against these troops.

The Security Council should take a position on the subject in less than 15 days.

But if this summit interests, it is in particular because it intervenes in full political crisis in

the Democratic Republic of Congo

.

Joseph Kabila, the former president, had taken the initiative to write to SADC to call on them to do everything to preserve peace in the country and maintain the terms of the agreement between him and Felix Tshisekedi.

He also sent emissaries there on Friday to continue his lobby.

One of the sponsors of the coalition agreement is also present: the South African Cyril Ramaphosa.

President Tshisekedi should meet him on this occasion, it is said in the entourage of the Head of State who assures that he is not worried about the “ 

posturing

 ” of Joseph Kabila.

At this SADC Troika summit,

terrorism

will also be discussed

in Mozambique

, where the northern province of Cabo Delgado has been plagued by increasing violence for three years.

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  • DRC

  • Mozambique

  • Felix Tshisekedi