Uhuru Kenyatta urges resumption of Nairobi peace process to end DRC conflict
The EAC peace restoration committee chair through his spokesperson Kanze Dena Mararo called for the resumption of talks to prevent violation of and a humanitarian crisis caused by the fight between the M23 rebels and government security officers.
Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also the facilitator of the East Africa Community-led process on the restoration of peace and stability in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, believes the process of peace restoration was undermined when talks by his committee were suspended.
The EAC peace restoration committee chair, through his spokesperson Kanze Dena Mararo, called for the resumption of the talks to prevent violation of and a humanitarian crisis caused by the fight between the M23 rebels and government security officers.
Kenyatta urged Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi to resume talks and avoid the situation in the Eastern part of DRC getting worse.
“The Nairobi process though temporarily sidelined remains critical for dialogue and peace restoration in Eastern DRC and the facilitator remains committed to finding pathways to peace together with the government of DRC, regional stakeholders, and the international community but the recent resurgence highlights the urgent need for renewed political will, regional cooperation and sustain support for peace efforts to avoid further deterioration,” Kanze stated.
According to Uhuru, despite efforts to maintain dialogue including consultations between the facilitator president Tshisekedi of DRC and the M23 leadership, the political and security landscape in the DRC became unstable following the formation of a new government which he says delayed the resumption of the Nairobi peace process.
“While engagement with stakeholders continued, the lack of political momentum coupled by hostilities in the North and South of Kivu undermined the progress made between 2022 and 2023 and M23 has regained control including of Goma and escalated with the period,” he said in the statement.
This comes after President William Ruto recently chaired a meeting of EAC where they called for all parties to ceasefire, and facilitate humanitarian access to the affected population.
United Nations reported that the Eastern DRC has been plagued by fighting by at least 122 rebel groups for more than 25 years with M23 recently last month beginning a fight and taking over Goma.
The M23 – a mostly Congolese Tutsi group – has advanced towards Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and is stationed at 25 to 30 kilometres from the city.
The M23, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO), and the Mai-Mai are among the most deadly in North Kivu and Ituri, two mining provinces bordering Rwanda and Uganda.
The M23’s attacks have soured relations between DRC and Rwanda.
President Tshisekedi called the rebel commanders “terrorists” who receive financial and logistical support from Kigali with the DRC president expelling Rwanda’s ambassador to Kinshasa at the end of October 2023 as the M23 advanced and recalled its envoy from Kigali.
Rwanda has however consistently denied providing any support for the M23 and accuses the Congolese army of colluding with the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) — a notorious Hutu rebel movement involved in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda.
