Uhuru in Kinshasa for peace talks in Eastern DR Congo

Former president Uhuru Kenyatta is in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a consultative meeting with DRC president Felix Tsishekedi towards peace in the troubled eastern region.

Kenyatta was received at the Aeroport International De N’djili, Kinshasa, on Sunday afternoon by East African Community Secretary-General Peter Mathuki and other DRC government officials.

The former head of state, who is the Facilitator of the EAC-led Peace Process in Eastern DRC, is set to engage with President Tsidhekedi and key local groups and leaders in the two-day mission.

EAC Heads of States summit chairperson and Burundi president Everiste Ndayishimiye will also take part in the talks to bring to an end the war between DRC forces and M23 rebels.

The meeting comes ahead of the third round of peace talks to be held in the last week of November in Nairobi.

EAC previously said the Congolese government will resume talks in the Kenyan capital with armed groups, following two rounds that brought together 30 representatives of the armed groups in the search for peace.

The talks which bring together East African Heads of State, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and the African Union, are also aimed at convincing Kinshasa to reintegrate the M23 into the process of peaceful peace-making.

The rebels had been excluded from the talks because of renewed fighting with the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) during the first dialogues in Kenya in April this year.