Defence Ministers of the East African Community (EAC) on Sunday held talks over the current situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Revealing the details, Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said the meeting was mostly centralised on security issues in the region.
"We discussed a range of regional security concerns with a focus on the situation in the Eastern Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," he noted.
This was during an Extraordinary meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania.
Present were Minsters of Defense Alain Tribert Mutabazi (Burundi and Chair of EAC Council of Defense Ministers), Stergomena Lawrence (Tanzania), Vincent Ssempijja (Uganda), Jean-Pierre Bemba (DRC), and Representative of South Sudan.
The CS further said that they also discussed opening humanitarian supply corridors, disarming armed groups, securing civilian populations, enforcing ceasefires in certain areas, and securing the city of Goma in DRC.
Duale acknowledged the EAC has made important strides in stabilizing the Eastern side of DRC.
"In light of the gains made by the East African Community Regional Forces (EACRF), the sitting proposed an extension of their occupancy until peace and stability are fully restored," he said.
CS Duale noted that Kenya being one of the Troops Contributing Countries (TCC) welcomed the move and committed to supporting the quest for peace in the economic development of the DRC.
In September 2023 The East African Community heads of state resolved to extend the mandate of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) to stay in the Democratic Republic of Congo for three months until December 8, 2023.
The force is made up of Kenyan, Ugandan, Burundian and South Sudanese soldiers.
Its troops were first deployed in November 2022, in response to an advance by the M23 rebels in the Eastern region of the DRC.
In August, EAC Defence ministers unanimously supported the call to have the EACRF remain focused on its mandate to support DRC in restoring peace.
An Extraordinary Security meeting held in Nairobi also considered the progress of the Regional Force in restoring security.
The ministerial meeting noted that insecurity continues in areas where withdrawal has not been achieved.