DRC crisis: Wetang’ula asks EAC leaders to support Ruto’s peace efforts

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula/FILE

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has urged leaders in East African Community (EAC) to support President William Ruto’s efforts to restore peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Wetang’ula said Ruto, as the current chair of the EAC, needs the support of other leaders to prevent the situation in DRC from deteriorating.

“I want to urge our leaders to support efforts of our President as the chair of EAC to engage in dialogue and save the agony that our people are going through,” he stated.

Speaking in Khwisero in Kakamega County where he graced the official handover of St. Stephen Namasoli Secondary School tuition block, the Speaker said the turmoil in DRC directly affects Kenya.

“Our exports go to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and DRC. When turmoil hits the DRC the way it is happening, it directly affects out country,” he explained.

The Speaker added that the support Ruto is getting in his efforts to mediate peace in DRC needs to be widened.

“The support our president is having should be widened and extended so that he issues compromising security in the region and undermining our economies can be addressed,” he stated.

Wetang’ula said he is appealing for support as former Foreign Affairs minister and former chairman of the AU Peace and Security Council.

“You may think the DRC is far but we depend on it for so many things,” he added.

The emergency in the DRC is emerging to be one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world.

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed a “vigorous” military response against Rwandan-backed fighters who have advanced further in the mineral-rich east of the country.

Tshisekedi, in his first remarks since M23 rebels captured much of Goma, said in an address on Wednesday that a “vigorous and coordinated response against these rebels in underway.

Tshisekedi declined to attend crisis talks with his counterpart Rwandan President Paul Kagame earlier on Wednesday.

Angola, which has mediated a ceasefire between the DRC army and M23 in the past, has also called for the two leaders to meet urgently in its capital, Luanda.