President Kagame is in Nairobi, Kenya, for a conclave meeting on the security situation in eastern DRC hosted by EAC Chairperson Uhuru Kenyatta and attended by Ugandan President Museveni, Burundi President Ndayishimiye, South Sudan President Salva Kiir, and DRC President Tshisekedi.
East African leaders have demanded an immediate ceasefire and cessation of hostilities between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the various rebel groups fighting in the country’s eastern area.
At a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, the leaders also instructed that rebel factions vacate any land they control and that peace talks be strengthened.
Regional army leaders also briefed the presidents on operating procedures and rules of engagement for an East African military force that would be sent shortly to DR Congo’s troubled North Kivu and Ituri regions.
The summit also criticized recent incidences of hate speech and assaults on certain ethnicities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which were purportedly spurred by DR Congo’s assertions that Rwanda is aiding the M23 rebels.
The M23, one of many militias headquartered in North Kivu, originally appeared about 2012, claiming to be fighting for the rights of Congolese ethnic Tutsis.
Clashes with government troops have intensified since March, and they recently took Bunagana town on the Ugandan border.
