Former President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta is currently in Kinshasa, DR Congo where he joined a team of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to assess the current security situation in Eastern DR Congo along with President Antoine Felix Tshisekedi.
The UN team has been in DR Congo since Friday to review the worsening humanitarian crisis in DRC following the advancement of M23 rebels earlier last week after a regional ceasefire agreement collapsed.
Kenyatta, the facilitator of the East African Community – EAC-led Nairobi Process on the Restoration of Peace and Stability in DRC will seek to explore measures to manage the situation as “peace efforts suffer setbacks.”
In February, Kenyatta held a meeting in a bid to convene an urgent consultation with the East Africa Community (EAC) Technical Advisors to the Office of the Facilitator to review the situation in DRC.
“The meeting was necessitated by the deteriorating security situation in eastern DRC, particularly in Ituri and North Kivu, where the serious escalation of fighting and targeted killings is reported to be taking place,” his office said at the time.
Following advice from his Technical Advisors, Kenyatta also called for calm and the immediate cessation of hostilities.
He further appealed for an urgent return to dialogue and consultation in order to promote trust and confidence among the parties to the conflict and alleviate the suffering of the people in eastern DRC.
“The Facilitator remains committed to the course of building peace in eastern DRC and continues to call on regional leaders and the international community to lend their political goodwill and support to the full realization of the EAC-Led Nairobi Peace Process for the Restoration of Peace and Stability in eastern DRC,” Kenyatta’s office said.
CU/abj/APA