Eastern DRC peace: Tshisekedi’s decisive diplomatic push puts mediation back on track
A decisive diplomatic move has injected fresh momentum into the stalled peace process in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo dispatched a high-level envoy with a written message to Togolese leader Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, the African Union mediator for the crisis.
On Tuesday, September 29, in Lomé, Gnassingbé received Floribert Anzuluni, the DRC’s Minister of Regional Integration, who carried the personal correspondence from the Congolese head of state. The meeting marked a critical turning point in efforts to revive negotiations aimed at ending the long-running violence in the eastern part of the country.
“We were sent to the President of the Council, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, to deliver a special message from the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo” concerning “the peace process in eastern DRC,” Anzuluni announced after the audience. Gnassingbé is directly involved in that process as the African Union’s designated mediator.
During the talks, the Congolese envoys provided the Togolese president with a detailed update on the progress achieved by Congolese authorities in “demobilizing armed movements to allow for the consolidation of peace” in the east, a region that has seen escalating tensions since late 2021.
Gnassingbé has led the African Union mediation mission since April 2025, taking over from Angolan mediators, with a mandate to resolve the security crisis in eastern DRC and the wider Great Lakes region.
Securing a lasting ceasefire and achieving long-term stabilization in the Great Lakes area remain the principal challenges facing peacemakers, despite parallel diplomatic tracks in Doha under Qatari mediation and in Washington under American auspices.
