DRC–Great Lakes Crisis: African Union Pushes for Unified Peace Action at Lomé Meeting

African leaders and senior mediators met in Lomé on January 17, 2026, for a high-level African Union meeting aimed at strengthening coordination and consolidating peace efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the wider Great Lakes region.

The meeting was chaired by Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, President of the Council of Togo and African Union Mediator for the Great Lakes crisis. It brought together Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, key stakeholders, and members of the AU Panel of Facilitators, including former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, former Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, and former Central African Republic President Catherine Samba-Panza.

The Lomé talks come amid persistent insecurity in eastern DRC and growing concerns over the fragmentation of peace initiatives across the region.

A pivotal moment for African mediation
Opening the meeting, President Gnassingbé emphasized the urgency of renewed collective responsibility, warning against repeated diagnoses and overlapping diplomatic statements that fail to deliver results. “We are gathered today to fully assume our collective responsibilities. This high-level meeting comes at a pivotal moment,” he said.
“We are no longer at the time of repeated diagnoses or declarations that overlap without reinforcing one another. The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes region compels us to coherence in action.”
He described the meeting as a test of Africa’s ability to address its most complex security challenges.
“Africa must not fail in its mission of peace,” Gnassingbé stated.
“The challenge is not only sustainable peace in the DRC and the Great Lakes, but also the political maturity of African action in the face of continental security challenges.”
Restoring strategic coherence
A key focus of the discussions was the need to improve strategic alignment among political, institutional, and operational initiatives led by African actors.
President Gnassingbé cautioned that uncoordinated mediation efforts risk weakening peace prospects.
“Peace cannot simply be proclaimed; it must be built over time,” he said.
“It weakens when initiatives are juxtaposed without coordination. The fragmentation of frameworks and mediations undermines peace more than it serves it.”

He called on African leaders and partners to ensure that all diplomatic and security efforts contribute to a unified strategy rather than competing approaches.
From frameworks to implementation
The AU Mediator also stressed the importance of making the unified African peace process fully operational. According to him, the priority is not to create new mechanisms, but to implement decisions already agreed upon.
“The challenge at this stage is not to formulate new commitments, but to ensure the effective, methodical, and consistent implementation of those already adopted,” he said.
He urged clearer role-sharing among facilitators, stronger coordination tools, and the adoption of a realistic and prioritized roadmap capable of translating political agreements into concrete outcomes on the ground.
Putting people at the center
Beyond diplomatic coordination, President Gnassingbé highlighted the humanitarian, social, and economic dimensions of peace, stressing that progress must be felt by affected populations.
“Peace only has meaning if it is lived by the people,” he said.
“Behind our frameworks and mechanisms are women, men, and children - communities displaced and deprived of security, healthcare, education, and prospects.”
He added that peace should be measured not only by agreements or meetings, but by restored security, access to essential services, and renewed trust in daily life.
African ownership reaffirmed
At the close of the meeting, AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf and Téte António, representing Angolan President João Lourenço, current chair of the African Union Assembly, welcomed the Lomé initiative.
They noted that the meeting reinforces an African-led pathway toward sustainable peace in the Great Lakes region and aligns AU mediation efforts with international processes in Washington, Doha, and Paris.
Analysts say the Lomé high-level meeting could mark a turning point in restoring momentum to African Union mediation and advancing a more coherent and results-oriented approach to peace in the DRC and the Great Lakes region.