The meeting takes place as intense combat reignites decades-old animosities between Kinshasa and Kigali, with the DRC blaming Rwanda for the M23 rebel group’s recent comeback.
Rwanda has denied supporting the rebels on numerous occasions, while both governments have accused one other of conducting cross-border shelling.
The Kenyan presidency stated in a statement announcing Monday’s meeting in Nairobi that people in eastern DRC “have long suffered and continue to pay an inordinately expensive price in loss of lives, property, and elusive peace.”
President Kenyatta proposed for the deployment of a regional EAC force to restore calm in eastern DRC last week, but Kinshasa indicated it would not accept Rwanda’s participation.
Rwanda is attempting to “take our land, rich in gold, coltan, and cobalt, for their own exploitation and profit,” according to DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, who has urged the international community to denounce Kigali.
On Sunday, EAC regional commanders were set to meet to finalize preparations for the unified force’s deployment.
In the DRC, a UN force known by its French acronym MONUSCO is already at work.
President Kenyatta stated that the regional force will liaise with local provincial authorities and MONUSCO to disarm anyone in possession of illegal firearms.
The mineral-rich DRC is battling dozens of armed factions in the country’s east, many of which are the result of two regional wars a quarter-century ago.
The M23 or “March 23 Movement,” a predominantly Congolese Tutsi militia, took control of the strategic town of Bunagana this week, causing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
When the militia took control of Goma in 2012, it shot to international fame.
Soon after, it was driven out in a coordinated operation by UN soldiers and the Congolese army.
After accusing the Kinshasa administration of breaking a 2009 agreement that included integrating its militants into the army, the group took up guns again in late November.
Since the widespread arrival in the DRC of Rwandan Hutus accused of slaying Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, relations between Kinshasa and Kigali have been strained.