President William Ruto with King Charles III at State House on October 23, 2023. /PCS/FILEPresident William Ruto has held a phone conversation with King Charles III and discussed a number of issues, including regional security and Kenya's role in sustaining the region's stability.
The President made the revelation Monday evening, moments after he revealed that a joint peace summit has been scheduled over the weekend to discuss the delicate security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"I have had a telephone conversation with His Majesty King Charles III of the United Kingdom. We discussed Kenya’s long-standing and close ties with the United Kingdom. I am glad that Kenya and the United Kingdom have a shared passion for nature and climate conservation. We also discussed regional peace and security and Kenya’s role," Ruto said.
Kenya is a leader in climate change mitigation efforts and has been playing mediator in regional conflicts, the most recent being in the DRC, where a rebel attack in the eastern part of the country last week sparked mass displacements.
The already delicate humanitarian situation has been made dire as parties trade accusations on who's fueling the crisis in the mineral-rich country that has experienced turmoil for more than 30 years.
State House said in a statement that Tanzania will play host to the joint summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East Africa Community (EAC) in Dar es Salaam on Friday and Saturday.
"This follows an agreement between the chairman of SADC President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe and EAC chairperson President William Ruto of Kenya," the brief statement reads.
Ruto said presidents Suluhu Samia of Tanzania, Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC, Rwanda's Paul Kagame, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia have all confirmed participation at the extra-ordinary summit.
"I'm glad the leadership of the Southern African Development Community and the East Africa Community has agreed to jointly caucus on the conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo," Ruto said.
"Peace and security are critical ingredients for trade and investment in our region. Through our collective effort, we will ensure security reigns on our continent," he affirmed.
Conflict in eastern DRC has led to approximately six million deaths since 1996, with over 15 million children suffering the impacts of armed conflict.
The country has endured decades of multiple, overlapping crises, the roots of which stretch back into the Atlantic slave trade and a 75-year reign of terror under King Leopold II of Belgium.
However, the most recent humanitarian crisis is rooted in the country’s wealth of mineral deposits and the armed resistance of Tutsi-led M23 rebels in the eastern part of the country, who accuse the government of attempting to displace them from their ancestral land.