Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on stakeholders involved in peace restoration efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo to prioritise honesty and the spirit of reconciliation in their engagements.
Speaking in his capacity as the facilitator of the East African Community-led Nairobi Peace Process, Uhuru said there's urgent need to find durable solutions to the unfortunate state of conflict in DRC which has occasioned internal displacement of people and acute human suffering.
Uhuru made the appeal in Kinshasa while addressing the 24 million residents of eastern DRC during a radio interview.
A statement by the Foreign Affairs ministry said the former President was on a two-day official visit to Kinshasa which ended on Monday.
His visit came just a day after Kenya deployed the first batch of peace-keeping troops to the troubled Kivu region on Saturday.
On Sunday, Uhuru met and held talks with President Felix Tshisekedi and Bintou Keita, UN Special Representative of the Secretary General, MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo.
Uhuru also held a series of meetings on Monday with DRC Prime Minister Sama Lukonde Kyenge, Interior and Defence Minister Bahati Lukwebo, and Senate Speaker Christophe Mboso.
He also held talks with Speaker of the National Assembly and the Senate and National Assembly caucuses from Ituri, North and South Kivu and the Diplomatic Corps and representatives of the communities in those regions.
Uhuru reiterated that the role of the Nairobi Peace Process is to support the people of the DRC in the pursuit of restoration of peace, security and stability in the eastern DRC.
The Kivu conflict began in 2004 in the eastern Congo as an armed conflict between the military and the Hutu rebels who fled the Rwanda genocide.
The region is home to more than 100 armed groups, including M23, after opposing Tutsi and other opportunistic rebel groups arose to fight the Power group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.
Ethnic and geopolitical competition among DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and various non-state armed groups have continued to fuel the conflict.
Several ceasefire agreements have been signed over the years the latest being in 2013 between the government and M23 fighters.
The insurgent group, however, resumed fighting in late 2021 accusing the government in Kinshasa of failing to honour its commitments under the peace agreement.
