Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Monday hosted Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe in Kigali for high-level talks focused on the deepening crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its growing implications for regional stability.
The meeting, held at Village Urugwiro, brought together the two leaders to assess the state of regional peace efforts. According to the Rwandan presidency, discussions explored “progress of ongoing regional processes aimed at securing sustainable peace in the Great Lakes Region.”
President Gnassingbe recently took over as the African Union’s official mediator in the DR Congo conflict, succeeding Angola’s President Joao Lourenço, now the AU Chairperson. His mediation efforts also extend to improving strained relations between Rwanda and the DRC, which have deteriorated amid the intensifying conflict involving the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group.
This marked the second meeting between Kagame and Gnassingbe this year, following their previous encounter on January 19 in Kigali during the Togolese leader’s two-day official visit.
Kigali has maintained that it faces a serious threat from the Congolese government’s alliance with groups it considers hostile. Rwandan authorities have specifically accused Kinshasa of collaborating with the FDLR—an armed group linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi—as well as hiring foreign mercenaries and deploying troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Burundi with intentions to destabilize Rwanda.
Fighting in eastern DR Congo has intensified since January, after M23 rebels captured the key urban centers of Goma and Bukavu. The Congolese government continues to allege that Rwanda is backing the group—claims Rwanda strongly denies, insisting its military posture remains defensive and aimed at national protection.
Efforts to broker peace have so far failed to produce lasting results. The latest attempt is a joint initiative supported by the African Union that merges elements of both the Nairobi and Luanda peace tracks under a coordinated EAC-SADC framework.
Earlier this month, direct negotiations between the Congolese government and M23 rebels were facilitated by Qatar in Doha. The outcomes of those talks, held on April 10, have not yet been made public.
As regional actors continue to seek solutions, tensions remain high—with the potential for broader instability across the Great Lakes Region still looming.