President William Ruto co-chaired a historic summit in Nairobi on Friday, August 1, leading to a landmark deal uniting Africa’s major power blocs to tackle the deteriorating security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

• The summit resolved an immediate merger of structures from the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the African Union (AU) into a unified system governed by a joint secretariat led by the AU.
• The meeting, which also included President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, agreed to combine the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the AU Mediator and the EAC-SADC Panel of Facilitators.
• Key attendees included President William Ruto, his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta, and former Heads of State including Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria) and Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia).

Kenya's President William Ruto and Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa have proposed an African Union-led Joint Secretariat to unify all regional peace efforts concerning the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This initiative, announced during a high-level EAC-SADC Co-Chairs session in Nairobi, aims to consolidate various peace processes, including the Nairobi and Luanda initiatives, into a single, cohesive African-led framework.

• The newly proposed structure will harmonize terms of reference, consolidate existing secretariats, and establish mechanisms for resource mobilization and humanitarian coordination.
• Key figures present included eminent African facilitators like Olusegun Obasanjo, Uhuru Kenyatta, and Catherine Samba-Panza.
• The agreement also includes a unified resource mobilization strategy, specifically focusing on humanitarian assistance for the DRC.

Presidents William Ruto of Kenya and Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe will convene a Joint EAC-SADC Summit within seven days to formally adopt resolutions on peace in DRC. This summit follows a Nairobi session merging the EAC-led Nairobi Process, the SADC-supported Luanda Process, and other peace efforts into a single African Union (AU)-anchored framework.

• A Joint Secretariat, combining EAC, SADC, and AU technical secretariats, will be based at the AU Commission headquarters in Addis Ababa.
• President Mnangagwa lauded Ruto’s "cordial and committed leadership" in advancing the unified approach.
• The Nairobi session was attended by esteemed facilitators including Olusegun Obasanjo, Uhuru Kenyatta, and Catherine Samba-Panza, among others, underscoring the high-level commitment to regional peace.