In a note, the press services of the Presidential Palace did not explain the reasons for the postponement of the summit to which the President, João Lourenço, invited his counterparts Paul Kagame, from Rwanda, Félix Tshisekedi, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Évariste Ndayishimiye, from Burundi, and former President of the Republic of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta.
The objective is the approval of a Plan of Action for Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the re-establishment of good relations between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
João Lourenço is the African Union mediator in charge of the dossier on the conflict.
Last Wednesday, the former president of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta, mediator of the East African Community (EAC), called for an "immediate" end to the fighting between the Army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo) and the rebel group Movimento 23 March (M23) and advocated a return to the agreement signed in Nairobi.
"Even if we are in conflict, even if we don't understand each other, we have to stop fighting," he said, before adding that "the displaced have nothing to do with the conflict." "Let's have pity on these people, let's stop fighting and argue," he urged.
Kenyatta said he was shocked by the deterioration of the humanitarian situation due to the conflict and said that "thousands" of people had been affected by the fighting. "This number is going to increase," he warned, in an information released by Congolese radio station Radio Okapi.
Fighting in recent days has centered around the provincial capital of North Kivu, Goma, following last week's bombing of M23 positions in the area by the DR Congo army.
According to the UN, 188,000 people have fled their homes since 20 October, out of a total of almost 240,000 since the beginning of this latest conflict, which provoked a diplomatic crisis between DR Congo and Rwanda over Kigali's alleged support for the armed group, the which the Rwandan authorities deny, and the intervention of a Kenyan support force deployed by the EAC.
