The President of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Emmerson Mnangagwa, said yesterday in Harare that the region's Troika is ready to move forward with bolder measures aimed at restoring peace in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"Our region is ready to intensify actions to protect SADC citizens from all forms of instability, in the light of the Mutual Defense Pact," he said at the opening of the Extraordinary Summit.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the SADC Troika expressed its concern to extend the debate on restoring peace in eastern DRC to the East African Community (EAC).

The idea is to "deliberate on the way forward with regard to the security situation prevailing in the DRC, as proposed by the 24th Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State of the OAC, held on January 29, 2025".

Among other things, the summit mandated the Troika of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation to involve all non-state actors in the conflict in a ceasefire process, in order to protect human lives and facilitate the flow of humanitarian support to people and communities affected by the armed conflict.