President Kenyatta Holds Talks With Museveni’s Son, Lt. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba In Nairobi

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun, 8 – President Uhuru Kenyatta Wednesday held talks with Uganda’s Special Envoy Lt. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba who paid him a courtesy call at State House, Nairobi.

During the meeting, President Kenyatta and Lt. General Kainerugaba discussed several bilateral and multilateral issues of interest to Kenya and Uganda. Among the issues discussed included the restoration of peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The seven countries of the East African Community (EAC) agreed to set up a regional military force to try to end decades of bloodshed caused by militant activity in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya said.

Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nation’s largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 rebel groups continue to operate across large swathes of east Congo almost two decades after the official end of the central African country’s civil wars.

The EAC, which Congo joined last month, called on local armed groups to join a political process to resolve their grievances or “be handled militarily”, the office of Kenya’s president said in a statement following an EAC meeting in Nairobi on Thursday.

Foreign armed groups, which include an Islamist insurgency with origins in Uganda and ties to Islamic State (IS), “must disarm and return unconditionally and immediately to their respective countries of origin,” the president’s office said, without providing further details about the force.

Tanzania already contributes 835 troops to the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission, while Kenya contributes 250.

The U.N. has previously accused neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda of backing rebel groups in the mineral-rich region, accusations the two countries firmly deny.

Recent attempts to stop the violence militarily have proven unsuccessful, and in some cases backfired, security analysts and human rights groups say.

Congo imposed martial law in its eastern Ituri and North Kivu provinces in May and began joint operations with Uganda’s army in November against the Islamist group, known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).