President William Ruto on Tuesday held talks with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed over the raging crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The President met Mohammed on the sidelines of the ongoing Mission 300 Africa Heads of State Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Ruto said Mohammed expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in the Eastern DRC.
Mohammed sought support for the safety of staff working with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO).
“Ms Mohammed expressed the UN’s support for the regional efforts by the East African Community Heads of State to end the hostilities in Eastern DRC, including a meeting scheduled for Wednesday,” Ruto said.
President Ruto, who is the current Chair of the East African Community (EAC), on Monday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), citing an escalating humanitarian crisis.
He added that he had convened an extraordinary EAC Summit within the “next 48 hours due to the dire situation to deliberate on a way forward.”
In a communiqué on Sunday, Ruto noted that the crisis has been worsened by the ongoing military actions, including the closure of airspace in Goma, which has impeded access to facilitate humanitarian access to affected populations.
“These alarming developments, coupled with rising diplomatic tensions in the region, underscore the urgent need for a peaceful resolution to a conflict that continues to inflict untold suffering on the people, particularly women and children,” noted Ruto.
President Ruto urged DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and President Paul Kagame (Rwanda) to heed the call for peace and implement necessary actions to achieve peace in the war-torn region
In his meeting with Mohammed, Ruto said that Kenya’s relations with the United Nations have been firmly cemented by Kenya’s participation in UN peacekeeping missions in numerous parts of the world.
“We are also the only host of UN offices in the Global South, with Nairobi being the headquarters of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT),” the president said.
