Ndayishimiye Takes AU Helm as Eastern DRC Tops Agenda

Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye has taken over the rotating chairmanship of the African Union (AU) for 2026, succeeding Angola’s President João Lourenço, as the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains a central regional security concern.

In its reporting, La Prospérité frames the new AU chairmanship as a shift for Ndayishimiye from a directly engaged Great Lakes actor to a continental coordinator expected to help align African diplomatic and security efforts around eastern DRC.

What the AU chairmanship is expected to do next

The immediate “next step” implied by the piece is political coordination: using the AU platform to reinforce, connect, or help synchronize existing regional initiatives especially the Nairobi and Luanda processes rather than launching an entirely new track.

The Nairobi Process is an East African Community-led framework launched in 2022 to support a political path toward resolving the eastern DRC conflict, while the Luanda Process has focused on de-escalating tensions particularly between the DRC and Rwanda through diplomacy and agreed roadmaps.

The balancing test

La Prospérité also highlights a built-in constraint for the new AU chair: Burundi’s proximity to, and security exposure from, eastern DRC may sharpen attention on the crisis but it also raises expectations of diplomatic balance and coordination with other mechanisms, including the United Nations and sub-regional bodies.

For Kinshasa, the article suggests that having an AU chair from a neighboring state may keep eastern DRC higher on the continental agenda. But the practical measure of progress, as framed here, will be whether the AU can help marshal member-state alignment around principles it emphasizes sovereignty, territorial integrity, and dispute resolution while navigating competing regional positions.