Regional mediators assess east DRC peace efforts in Lomé

On 7 and 8 June 2026, Lomé, the capital of Togo, hosted a high-level strategic meeting dedicated to the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Around the table sat representatives from key regional mediation bodies: the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), alongside envoys from the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN). The stated goal was to evaluate the coherence of diplomatic tracks and gauge the distance still separating the warring parties from a lasting settlement.

Lomé becomes a hub for fragmented mediation

Choosing Togo as a rallying point was far from arbitrary. Faure Gnassingbé, designated AU facilitator for the Congolese dossier, has been working for months to unify parallel initiatives that have multiplied without converging. The Nairobi process, led by the EAC, and the Luanda process, under AU auspices and long steered by Angola’s João Lourenço, have advanced in a scattered manner. The gradual merging of these tracks, begun in 2024, has yet to deliver expected results on the ground.

Diplomats in Lomé acknowledged that coordination remains the Achilles’ heel of the peace effort. Several speakers stressed the need to streamline dialogue channels to prevent protagonists from playing one mediation against another. This fragmentation has long benefited armed groups, notably the March 23 Movement (M23), whose military advances in North Kivu and South Kivu have redrawn the region’s security map.

A tense calendar between Kinshasa, Kigali and the M23

Diplomatic progress discussed at the Togolese meeting remains modest compared to expectations. Direct talks between Kinshasa and the M23, long refused by Congolese authorities, eventually began under combined pressure from regional mediators and international partners. Meanwhile, the bilateral track between the DRC and Rwanda—accused by the UN and several Western chancelleries of backing the rebel movement—remains the most delicate political knot to untie.

Mediators noted that implementation of previous commitments, especially the withdrawal of foreign forces from Congolese territory and the cantonment of armed groups, is worryingly behind schedule. The deployment of the SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), which suffered heavy human losses in early 2025, highlighted the limits of regional military responses to a conflict whose economic, land and identity drivers extend far beyond security.

A war economy complicates crisis resolution

Beyond the political dimension, participants stressed the urgency of tackling illicit mining resource exploitation in Kivu. Coltan, tin, gold and tungsten fuel a war economy with tentacles reaching into international supply chains. Several mediators advocate for a regional traceability mechanism, seen as indispensable for any sustainable de-escalation.

The Lomé meeting did not produce spectacular announcements, but it reaffirmed the principle of an integrated approach. Next steps are expected to involve Congolese civil actors more closely, long excluded from processes dominated by heads of state and chancelleries. Civil society in North Kivu and South Kivu, as well as customary authorities, are now identified as essential relays to anchor any potential agreement in the reality of battered territories.

Nevertheless, mediators left the Togolese capital without a firm timeline for signing a comprehensive agreement. The coming weeks will tell whether the diplomatic momentum generated in Lomé can shift the trajectory of a conflict that, for more than three decades, has defied every peace architecture built around the Great Lakes region.