SADC leaders are set to meet on Friday for an extraordinary summit to discuss the escalating crisis in eastern Congo.
The summit comes after heightened tensions between Rwanda and South Africa (SA), following accusations from Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, that South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, spread misinformation about a meeting concerning the deaths of 13 South African soldiers.
The chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), president Emmerson Mnangagwa, has held discussions with SADC executive secretary Elias Magosi at State House in Harare ahead of the summit.
Mnangagwa is expected to lead talks on how to resolve the situation in eastern Congo.
Kagame has accused his South African counterpart of spreading misinformation about a private meeting they had earlier on, following the death of 13 SA soldiers in combat with M23.
He also slammed Ramaphosa for calling the Rwanda defence force a militia force.
“If South Africa wants to contribute to peaceful solutions, that is well and good, but South Africa is in no position to take on the role of a peace maker or mediator. And if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day,” he says in a widely circulated statement.
An emergency virtual SADC troika summit was convened in Tanzania on Tuesday to address the escalating situation.
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