DRC: Uhuru Kenyatta tries consultations to find peace

Uhuru Kenyatta, the former president of Kenya is in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is there as part of the facilitation to try to find a solution to the crisis prevailing in the east of the DRC.
He was appointed by the East African community as facilitator of the Nairobi negotiation process. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Mr. Kenyatta met this Monday in Kinshasa, the presidents of the two chambers of the Congolese parliament, according to diplomatic sources in Kinshasa.

“He spoke with representatives of the Senate and the National Assembly as well as representatives of different communities in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri,” our sources say. The three provinces whose community representatives have been received have suffered atrocities for more than two decades following the presence of local and foreign armed groups.

During the discussion Uhuru Kenyatta would have proposed possible solutions to the problems of insecurity in the east of the DRC, in the perspective of the Nairobi talks scheduled for next week in the Kenyan capital.

Some participants have reportedly asked the facilitator to set up a working group, explaining that “the conflict is much more complex and requires a lot of analysis, a lot of lucidity to accompany the Congolese and the States of the region to move towards lasting solutions of peace, stability and development”.

The other recommendation was to involve civil society and community actors in a well-developed partnership, we learn.

“[…], the question of peace is not only limited to the participation of armed groups, but must integrate the key actors, who experience the horrors of war on a daily basis, who are direct victims of the conflicts”, has mentioned one of the community representatives on Okapi radio.

However, certain political actors, including elected lawmakers from the affected provinces, disagree with the process of negotiations with a few movements which they describe as “terrorists”.

In a meeting with the Burundian president in his capacity as current president of the EAC, Mr. Kenyatta and Évariste Ndayishimiye had already announced the inclusion of community leaders and traditional chiefs in the Nairobi process a few days ago.