Kenya wants to be enjoined in peace efforts in eastern DRC

Foreign Affairs principal secretary nominee Karanja Kibicho at a past function. Kenya is seeking to be enjoined in the UN-mediated Democratic Republic of Congo peace deal to end the perennial conflict in the region. Photo/FILE

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  • “Kenya supports the regional and international peace initiatives that are aimed at bringing peaceful and durable solutions to the conflicts in eastern DRC, Central African Republic and in Sudan and South Sudan,” Mr Kibicho said.

Kenya is seeking to be enjoined in the UN-mediated Democratic Republic of Congo peace deal to end the perennial conflict in the region.

Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho told the national coordinators meeting of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) that Kenya wanted to play a key role in ending the interminable cycles of violence in eastern DRC.

Mr Kibicho said the government welcomed the peace, security and cooperation framework for the DRC and the region signed in Addis Ababa in February this year.

The peace deal, which aims at ending the turmoil in region mainly in the eastern DR Congo, was signed by Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Congo, DRC, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.

“Kenya supports the regional and international peace initiatives that are aimed at bringing peaceful and durable solutions to the conflicts in eastern DRC, Central African Republic and in Sudan and South Sudan,” Mr Kibicho said.

“Kenya, however, looks forward to being enjoined in the framework as soon as possible so as to continue to effectively lend political and diplomatic support to peace building initiatives in the region,” he said.

The PS also urged the region to pay more attention to trade to improve the economic situation of the people as a way of addressing security issues affecting the region to complement the framework of the peace deal.

The ICGLR national coordinators’ meeting is a first of several meetings which started yesterday at the Windsor Hotel. It will be followed by a meeting of Defence Chiefs of Staff and Chiefs of Intelligence at the same venue today and the regional ministers meeting on Monday ahead of the official opening of the special summit of the ICGLR Heads of State and Government by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday.

Among the Heads of State expected are the presidents of Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia, Central African Republic, the DR Congo and representatives of African Union, UN, World Bank and ADB.