{"id":149177,"date":"2025-02-08T12:57:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T11:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution"},"modified":"2025-02-15T22:16:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T21:16:49","slug":"congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution","title":{"rendered":"Congo conflict: Eastern, Southern African leaders seek solution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Presidents of Eastern and Southern African regional blocs on Saturday met for an unprecedented joint summit to find a way out of a conflict in eastern Congo, where Rwandan-backed rebels\u2019 rapid advance since January has fanned fears of a wider war.<\/p>\n<p>DAILY POST reports that the M23 rebels last week captured Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, marking the worst escalation of fighting in more than a decade that has left thousands dead.<\/p>\n<p>Despite announcing a unilateral ceasefire, the rebels have continued to march south toward the city of Bukavu.<\/p>\n<p>Rwandan President Paul Kagame stood on stage at the start of talks in Dar es Salaam, while his Congolese counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi, attended via video link.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHistory will judge us harshly if we remain still and watch the situation worsen, day by day,\u201d Tanzania\u2019s President Samia Suluhu Hassan said at the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>The first-ever summit of both Eastern and Southern African blocs underscores the continent\u2019s deep concern over the crisis and the standoff between Congo and neighboring Rwanda, which has denied allegations of fueling the conflict with its own troops and weapons.<\/p>\n<p>According to experts and diplomats, the two groupings have, so far, been broadly divided over the conflict, with the eastern bloc closer to Rwanda\u2019s call for dialogue and southern countries backing Congo, expressing anger over the deaths of peacekeepers.<\/p>\n<p>The leaders are seeking a breakthrough after two peace processes in Luanda and Nairobi stalled amid escalating tensions.<\/p>\n<p>The blocs\u2019 foreign ministers have recommended that the summit consider calling for the cessation of hostilities, an unconditional ceasefire, and the reopening of Goma airport and other key routes to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Presidents of Eastern and Southern African regional blocs on Saturday met for an unprecedented joint summit to find a way out of a conflict in eastern Congo, where Rwandan-backed rebels\u2019 rapid advance since January has fanned fears of a wider war. DAILY POST reports that the M23 rebels last week captured Goma, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":149176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[14642,254,15630],"class_list":["post-149177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-congo","tag-nigeria","tag-southern-african"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Congo conflict: Eastern, Southern African leaders seek solution - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Presidents of Eastern and Southern African regional blocs on Saturday met for an unprecedented joint summit to find a wa ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congo conflict: Eastern, Southern African leaders seek solution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Presidents of Eastern and Southern African regional blocs on Saturday met for an unprecedented joint summit to find a wa ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-08T11:57:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-15T21:16:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1739006962.055405.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Congo conflict: Eastern, Southern African leaders seek solution\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-08T11:57:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-15T21:16:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution\"},\"wordCount\":302,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1739006962.055405.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Congo\",\"Nigeria\",\"Southern African\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/congo-conflict-eastern-southern-african-leaders-seek-solution\",\"name\":\"Congo conflict: Eastern, Southern African leaders seek solution - 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