When President Donald Trump invited President William Ruto to Washington to bear witness to the detente between two Great Lakes neighbours, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marked by official signing of the Rwanda-DRC Peace agreement, the participation validated several incontrovertible premises and understandings.
First, it acknowledges that while Washington and Doha have recently played a significant role in nudging the two neighbouring countries to the negotiating table, any success would not have been possible without taking into account the heavy lifting by African actors. Among these regional actors, Kenya stands tall. Not only did the country deploy boots on the ground through the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), it also invested heavily in mediation efforts to foster inter-Congolese dialogue between the DRC authorities and different armed groups including M23 within the aegis of the Nairobi process.
Despite failing to achieve its full objectives, many concede that the EACRF and the Nairobi process, were largely responsible for the delayed takeover of Eastern DRC by M23. Indeed, the evidence bears this out since barely six months after the exit of EACRF and curtailment of the Nairobi process, and despite deployment of a successor mission by SADC, M23 advanced quickly and eventually took over Goma and large swathes of neighbouring territories.
Second, the invitation appreciates that success of the peace agreement lies in the extent of its implementation. And it is with respect to monitoring, verification and follow up of key stipulations of the peace pact that again, President Trump perhaps contemplates leaning into regional mechanisms. Kenya has laboured mightily in this regard. As Chair of the East African Community, President Ruto worked hard to bring the EAC to cohere a position on the best approach to dealing with the conflict.
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The indispensable appreciation that no sustainable end to the conflict would be realised without EAC-SADC working together, led to the first ever joint summit of these two RECs in DaresSalaam. The EAC-SADC approach produced two outcomes. First, it established a High Level Panel of 5 former heads of states; Uhuru Kenyatta, Catherine Samba Panza, Sahle-Work Zewde, Olesagun Obasanjo and Mokgweetsi Masisi. Second, it agreed to merge the Nairobi and Luanda processes under the AU.
Third, the signing of the peace pact last evening in Washington may have been another paradigmatic moment for President Trump as a champion of Global Peace. However, it was also a historical interlude in which collective action between Africa and the US converged powerfully. On this elevated platform of cooperation lies opportunity for mobilising and consolidating more win-win outcomes in other areas including trade, energy and technology.
Investing in peace may appear a long and unrewarding venture whose immediate costs often dwarf the benefits, and whose uncertainty and risks of outcomes, test the resilience of the most well intentioned interveners. But the choice of non-involvement in pursuit for peaceful settlement renders the world poorer and riskier.
Writer is Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary.
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By Korir Singoei