Situation in Eastern DRC dire, warns former President Kenyatta, EAC-Facilitator
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta who is also the East Africa Community (EAC) facilitator for peace process in the volatile Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has made a passionate appeal to the international community and humanitarian agencies to move with speed and end human suffering in the region.
Kenyatta is the EAC-Facilitator of the Nairobi Process on Peace and Stability in Eastern DRC and African Union (AU)-Kenya Peace Envoy.
He wonders how he can effectively execute that task that he says “has been severely hampered by the unfolding dreadful humanitarian crisis in and around Goma, making it virtually impossible for him to fully realize the potential of his role when the fighting and the wholesale displacement of towns and villages is ongoing.”
President Kenyatta who made an official visit to Goma on November 15, 2022 decried the misery and the cycle of conflict by armed groups that he says has been inflicted on innocent men, women, children and the elderly.
During his visit, the former Head of State witnessed firsthand tens of thousands of internally displaced persons on the roadsides and the adverse effects of the violence caused by M23 rebels and other armed groups.
The violence has since led to the to the displacement of millions of people in Eastern DRC.
“I call on the international community, humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF, WFP, IOM, UN OCHA, to urgently and impactfully respond to assuage the terrible distress and human suffering,” President Kenyatta says in a statement released by Kenya’s Consulate in Goma, DRC.
“The situation requires urgent intervention by the international community, AUPSC and UNSC.”
The human crisis, he contends, is unfolding as a result of non-adherence to recommendations agreed upon in Nairobi during the Heads of State Conclaves.
The terms of the Nairobi Conclaves, which had been agreed upon by all EAC Heads of State, he observes, outlined that the fighting forces would remain in the positions that they were at the time of the Nairobi Conclaves. This has not been honoured by the rebel groups and their backers.
Nairobi has since sent its troops to join their counterparts drawn from Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda in restoring peace in Eastern DRC.
