NAIROBI, KENYA: President Yoweri Museveni has today arrived in Kenya for a meeting with other East African Community (EAC) leaders to discuss the security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
“I have arrived in Nairobi, Kenya for the 3rd East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Conclave on the peace and security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),” President Museveni tweeted on Monday morning.
The 3rd EAC meeting rooted on grounds of enforcing a dialogue between rebels and the Congolese government will take place today Monday, June 20th convened by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta. Other member states to attend the meeting include; Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo.
People in the eastern DRC “have long suffered and continue to pay an inordinately heavy price in loss of lives, property and elusive peace,” President Kenyatta, the current chairman of the EAC, said in a statement announcing Monday’s meeting.
The third meeting comes as heavy fighting revives decades-old animosities between Kinshasa and Kigali, with the DRC blaming neighbouring Rwanda for the recent resurgence of the M23 rebel group.
Rwanda has repeatedly denied backing the rebels, while both countries have accused each other of cross-border shelling.
On Wednesday, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called for the deployment of a regional EAC force in eastern DRC to restore peace, but Kinshasa said it would not accept Rwanda’s participation in the operation.
Regional commanders of the EAC were expected to meet on Sunday to finalise preparations for the deployment of the joint force.
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