East African leaders appeal for urgent ceasefire in Congo as fighting escalates

Nairobi, Jan 30 (IANS) East African leaders have called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) amid fighting that has hampered humanitarian operations in the city of Goma.

Leaders from the East African Community (EAC), who held an emergency summit by video link, also called on the DRC government to engage directly with all stakeholders, including the M23 rebel group, to peacefully resolve the escalating conflict.

"The summit called on all parties to the conflict in eastern DRC to cease hostilities and observe an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian access to the affected population," the leaders said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

President Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC, an EAC member state, did not take part in the summit convened by Kenyan President William Ruto, who rotates as the chairman of the EAC.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir attended.

Participants at the emergency gathering discussed the worsening security situation in eastern DRC and the city of Goma, where fighting between the DRC army and M23 rebels intensified, Xinhua news agency reported.

The leaders condemned attacks on diplomatic missions in Kinshasa, the DRC capital, and urged the government to protect the embassies and property as well as their staff.

The summit came after Tuesday's attacks on the embassies of Kenya, Uganda and South Africa as well as the United Nations and France.

The leaders said a joint summit of the EAC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which has also been involved in the eastern DRC, will be held in the coming days to deliberate on the way forward.

The SADC was due to hold an extraordinary summit Thursday in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, to discuss the security situation in the eastern DRC.

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