President Mnangagwa returns home from Kenya

Zvamaida MurwiraSenior ReporterSadc Chairperson, President Mnangagwa returned home this evening from Nairobi, Kenya where he together with his counterpart, President William Ruto, who is also the East African Community (EAC) Chairperson, formally appointed five facilitators to tackle the conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.He was welcomed at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya, Service Chiefs and senior Government officials.The President was accompanied to Nairobi by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Professor Amon Murwira, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for Presidential Communications, Mr George Charamba and senior Government officials.The five facilitators are former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Central African Republic President Catherine Samba-Panza, former Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde and former Botswana President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.The meeting was held at the Kenya State House this afternoon.In their brief to the media after closed-door deliberations this afternoon, President Mnangagwa and his counterpart, President Ruto commended the former African leaders for accepting the task which they described as onerous.Discussions between President Mnangagwa and his Kenyan counterpart, President Ruto focused on the formal appointment of five facilitators to tackle the protracted conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions of people.The meeting also formally adopted the documents relating to the facilitators’ terms of reference and discuss the funding modalities for the team.Other senior officials that attended today’s meeting were African Union Commission Chair Mr Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, SADC Executive Secretary Mr Elias Magosi and EAC Secretary General Ms Veronica Nduva.The meeting of the two leaders was a culmination of a resolution by the summit of the two regional blocs that tasked the chairpersons to operationalise the work of the facilitators.As part of their work, the facilitators are expected to meet the DRC political leadership and all non-State actors to attain comprehensive peace in the Eastern DRC, which has been devastated by war, which has not spared infrastructure.Share on FacebookPost on XFollow usSave

Originally published on Zimbabwe Herald

Source: Zimbabwe Herald