President William Ruto on Friday, February 17, countersigned the continued dialogue in the search for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
During a meeting in Addis Ababa-Ethiopia, the Kenyan leader stated that each of the neighbouring countries will lose if DRC’s conflict continues.
Speaking after a meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), Ruto said as neighbours of the DRC, East Africa should seek a solution to end the ongoing conflict in the country.
“Without solid and outlined steps, our region will not be able to handle the negative effects,” President Ruto said.
Kenya and Angola have been pushing for talk between rebel groups and the government. But most of the directives on disarmament and withdrawal from the occupied areas have been unmet.
The regional defence chiefs gave up until the first week of March this year for M23 to pull out of occupied territories. The rebel group, however, said it retains “the right to self-defence” in case of any attack.
The meeting in the Capital city of Addis came after violence saw several innocent civilians killed last week.
This was the first meeting on the Democratic Republic of Congo by the African Union Peace and Security Council since August last year when the continental organ countersigned a troops deployment by the East African Council (EAC).
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In the meeting on Friday, February 17, 2023, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi recommended that he had tabled the agenda on M23’s disobedience of regional leaders on the ceasefire.
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“The evaluation of the operations in the East of the DRC, the refusal of the M23 to withdraw from the Congolese locations which it occupies illegally, in spite of the resolutions of Angola and Burundi, are some points which will be called up during this Summit, which is held at the Headquarters of the African Union,” the DRC’s presidential office said.
Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, who has moderated Rwanda-DRC pressure for the African Union, the Burundian leader and chairperson of EAC Summit Évariste Ndayishimiye, Samia Suluhu of Tanzania, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Ugandan Vice-President Jessica Alupo and Deng Dau, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for South Sudan, were present during the summit.
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