Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta has landed in Bujumbura, Burundi where he is set to spearhead peace talks to end conflicts in the Eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Photos of Uhuru’s arrival in Burundi elicited mixed reactions after he landed aboard an official Kenya Airforce plane.
The former Head of State is in Burundi in his capacity as the East African Community facilitator of the inter -Congolese Consultations and Dialogue on peace restoration.
The former president, who is Kenya’s peace envoy for the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa, will hold a meeting with the EAC chairman and Burundi General Évariste Ndayishimiye.
Uhuru’s Burundi trip comes days after he helped ink a peace deal between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces on Thursday for a permanent cessation of hostilities.
The trip also comes hours after President William Ruto deployed Kenyan soldiers to the conflict-ridden eastern parts of DRC.
The deployment comes as a relief to DRC President Félix Tshisekedi’s government whose security has continued to crumble in the face of M23 rebels.
The president said that the mission was necessary and crucial as it “sends a signal to the world of Kenya’s commitment to performing its obligations by contributing to the achievement and maintenance of peace and stability in the EAC region.”
