A statement by the Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation ministry said yesterday that the summit will further discuss and come up with resolutions to the issue as the DRC is a member of both the SADC and the EAC.

Congolese government has repeatedly refused negotiations with M23, labelling the group as a terrorist organisation allegedly supported by Rwanda.

President William Ruto co-chaired Saturday a joint summit of the East African Community (EAC) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) on the conflict in the DRC. Several heads of the state and government from the countries within the blocs attended the meeting held in Tanzania.

President William Ruto, who chairs the East African Community (EAC), travelled to Tanzania for the SADC-EAC meetingThe meeting was agreed upon on Wednesday, January 29, during the EAC Heads of State Extraordinary Summit,

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi jets to Tanzania for the Joint Ministers meeting of East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Friday. Mudavadi will co-chair the ministers' meeting to address the security situation and ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The SADC leaders, who met for an extraordinary summit in Harare on Friday, expressed concern about the deteriorating security situation in the DRC.

The two regional blocs are holding a historic joint Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government in Tanzania tomorrow, which was described by SADC’s Secretariat head of communications and public relations Ms Barbra Lopi as the first of its kind convened specifically to deal with the security situation in DRC.

SADC leaders held crisis talks in Zimbabwe as M23 rebels advance on Bukavu, just days after seizing Goma. The UN says at least 700 people have been killed since Sunday.