Harare, Jan 30 (IANS): The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold an extraordinary summit in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, on Thursday to discuss the security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the SADC Secretariat said in a statement.

The extraordinary meeting of heads of state and government, which will be chaired by SADC Chairperson and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, will be preceded by the meetings of the SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials and the SADC Council of Ministers, the statement said.

The SADC is a regional economic community of 16 member states, including the DRC. The other members are Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia, Xinhua news agency reported.

The extraordinary summit comes after recent attacks on United Nations and SADC peacekeeping missions by armed groups in the eastern DRC.

Mnangagwa on Monday condemned the armed groups for the attacks, which resulted in several deaths and injuries, and vowed that the SADC will take action to deal with the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the eastern DRC.

In November 2024, the SADC extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in the DRC by one year amid continued fighting between the Congolese army and armed groups, which has resulted in over 400,000 people being displaced since the start of 2025.

Earlier UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres talked over the phone with the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda to discuss the escalating conflict in the DRC, a UN spokesman said.

The M23 rebels occupy portions of Goma, the largest city of eastern DRC, while Rwanda has been denying allegations its troops were in the DRC, supporting M23.