East African leaders have agreed to send in a regional force to try to end fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and called for an immediate ceasefire, RFI reports. The move was announced by the Kenyan presidency after the seven-member East African Community held talks in Nairobi on Monday June 20, 2022 to discuss an upsurge of violence in the volatile region that has ensnared neighbouring countries.

The mineral-rich DRC is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups in the east, many of which are a legacy of two regional wars a quarter of a century ago. A recent flare-up of heavy fighting sas revived decades-old animosities between Kinshasa and Kigali, with the DRC blaming neighbouring Rwanda for a resurgence of the M23 militia. Rwanda has repeatedly denied backing the rebels, while both countries have accused each other of carrying out cross-border shelling.

The DRC is the newest member of the seven-nation bloc, the others being Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.