The African Union will assume full responsibility for negotiating an end to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo after regional leaders agreed to merge the parallel Nairobi and Luanda mediation tracks. The decision was reached on 1 August at a joint meeting of East African Community and Southern African Development Community co-chairs held at State House in Nairobi and led by Kenyan President William Ruto, with the participation of former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Angolan President and AU Chair Joao Lourenço. Under the accord, the AU Commission will coordinate future political and humanitarian initiatives, replace the separate EAC and SADC facilitation mechanisms and convene an extraordinary virtual summit within seven days to brief heads of state on next steps. Leaders also acknowledged the contributions of the EAC Regional Force and the planned SADC deployment, saying military and relief operations will now be centrally directed by Addis Ababa to avoid overlap. The renewed diplomatic push follows a United Nations report that an M23 rebel attack killed 169 civilians on 9 July, part of violence that has left almost 3,000 people dead in North Kivu province over the past year. Ruto said the merger aims to "silence the guns in eastern DRC," while AU Commission Chairperson Mohammoud Youssef Ali pledged to develop a comprehensive roadmap for talks involving Kinshasa, rebel groups and regional stakeholders.