On January 29, 2025, EAC ministers convened virtually to address the security crisis in eastern DRC. The meeting came just two days after the armed group M23 seized Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

While the DRC’s Minister of Regional Cooperation was expected to participate, he was notably absent, despite the meeting’s critical relevance to his country’s ongoing conflict.

Minister Nduhungirehe revealed that the official explanation for the absence was a technical mishap.

“The reason that was given to us is that the DRC Minister of Regional Cooperation, who had previously confirmed his attendance, eventually connected.... to the wrong link!” he posted on X.

A second high-level meeting was held on February 7, 2025, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

This gathering, bringing together ministers from the EAC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), was a preparatory session for a summit of regional heads of state focused on resolving the DRC crisis.

According to Nduhungirehe, 14 ministers from six EAC countries, six SADC nations, and two states belonging to both blocs (DRC and Tanzania) were invited. While 13 ministers attended, DRC’s Foreign Minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, was absent and was instead represented by the country’s ambassador to Botswana.

"Here again, we were given an excuse...even two! At the beginning of the meeting, we were informed, by the DRC Ambassador to Botswana, that the DRC Foreign Minister was ‘on her way,’ but an hour later, the version had changed: she had in fact a ‘technical problem with her plane’!" Nduhungirehe said.

He further revealed that, despite these explanations, it was later confirmed that Minister Kayikwamba was in Europe at the time, lobbying for sanctions against Rwanda.

“But we now know that the Foreign Minister of DRC was all this time in Europe, begging for sanctions against Rwanda,” he added.

Rwanda and the DRC have endured strained relations for the past three years. France, Turkey, and Qatar have attempted to mediate between the two countries, but Kinshasa rejected these initiatives, insisting that the conflict should be resolved by Africans.

Nduhungirehe criticized the DRC’s stance, questioning how its officials could reject African mediation while seeking intervention from European nations such as Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.

He also reiterated that the security crisis in eastern DRC is not caused by Rwanda and argued that it is unfair to hold Rwanda accountable for conflicts fueled by Congolese actors.

During the extraordinary summit of EAC and SADC heads of state on February 8, 2025, regional leaders called on the DRC government to engage in political dialogue with all conflicting parties, including M23, to establish lasting peace.

The resolution emphasized that Kinshasa’s military approach would not yield results. Instead, leaders urged the DRC to acknowledge and address the underlying issues that led M23 to take up arms.

Minister Nduhungirehe has exposed DRC’s lies about absence from joint EAC-SADC meeting.