President Uhuru Kenyatta will on Thursday host a regional meeting on the DRC in Nairobi.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Wednesday said President Kenyatta will host the the 2nd Heads of State and Government Conclave on the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Invited to the meeting are Presidents Felix Tshisekedi (DRC),Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Evariste Ndayishimiye (Burundi) and Yoweri Museveni(Uganda).
President Kenyatta is the EAC chairman and the meeting will discuss the security situation in the eastern DRC.
The meeting is a follow up to the recent summit at State House in Nairobi after DRC signed up to formally join the EAC in the presence of Presidents Kenyatta, Kagame, Museveni and Tshisekedi.
President Tshisekedi’s office confirmed the Quintipartite Mini-Summit will be devoted to peace and security of the EAC, DRC having joined the community.
“Evoked on March 30, on the occasion of the last meeting marked by the accession of the DRC to the East African Community, this Mini-Summit will examine the imperatives of stabilization of the region within the framework of the community goals,” DRC presidency said in a statement.
There is an active military engagement between government forces and the M23 rebels.M23 is the latest incarnation of the Tutsi-led insurgents who have battled Congo’s government in its mineral-rich eastern region since 1996, in an evolving conflict that has caused the deaths of millions from violence, hunger and disease.
Nairobi has been making efforts to bring peace in the region following the protracted conflict. For instance, Kenya facilitated the 2013 Nairobi declaration signed between the militia and the Kabila-led government, which was based on the consensus reached during the Kampala Dialogue.
The agreement included a decision by the M23 to end the rebellion and transform itself into a political party, an amnesty to its members, though only for acts of war or insurgency, and the demobilisation of former members. The deal did not hold as fighting continued.
In the recent flare ups, heavy fighting broke out on March 28 after the M23 rebel group attacked two Congolese military camps near Uganda and Rwanda Last month, still, eight United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Congo peacekeepers died in a helicopter crash in North Kivu.
Monusco said initial findings indicated “the crash was caused by a luminous object” but was not ruling out the possibility of an attack. The crash occurred amid military clashes between the Congolese army (Fardc) and the M23 rebels in four localities in North Kivu. The army and the rebels are blaming each other for the attack on the helicopter.
Kenya Defence Forces reportedly on Tuesday killed five militants from the Islamic State Central Africa Province (IS-CAP) in Beni, eastern DRC.
