DR Congo to host Great Lakes regional summit

A virtual summit of countries in the Great Lakes region is expected to take place on Wednesday following several postponements amid rising diplomatic tensions.

Rwanda declined invitation to participate in the summit initially planned for 14 September after the Democratic Republic of Congo summoned its envoy for allegedly downplaying his country’s role in a massacre of more than 30 people at a Catholic mission in the eastern town of Kasika in 1998.

DR Congo’s politicians and activists called for the envoy’s expulsion.

Burundi skipped the meeting, saying senior officials in the country had a ‘busy agenda’.

There are renewed tensions between Rwanda and Burundi after members from the Burundian armed group Red Taraba were apprehended in Rwanda’s southern Nyaruguru District. Relations between Rwanda and Uganda have deteriorated since 2019. The two have accused each other of espionage and arbitrary arrests and detentions of their respective nationals.