Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta has denounced the December 15 press conference by Congo River Alliance terming it “shocking”.
Kenyatta who is the Facilitator of the East African Community (EAC) Nairobi-led Peace process said Monday the “rhetoric” by the alliance which seeks to oust President Felix Tshisekedi in the upcoming national polls set for December 20 was “provocative”.
“The Facilitator repudiates these developments and in particular their military character, and the accompanying politically charged and provocative rhetoric,” Kenyatta said in a statement.
He termed the statement by the exiled former Chairman of DRC’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) Corneille Nangaa, in the company of M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa, a a threat to DRC’s stability.
Kenyatta restated his support for the US-brokered ceasefire in DRC adding that he continues to push for its indefinite extension in order to facilitate the peace building process.
The EAC Facilitator noted that the ceasefire will put an end to “the senseless killing and suffering of the people of the eastern DRC.”
He added that it will set the stage for a resumption of the Nairobi peace process, and the brokering of a lasting peace in the troubled region.
Kenyatta’s statement comes a day after President William Ruto defended Kenya’s refusal to arrest leaders of the Congo River Alliance following Kinshasa’s request.
Speaking Sunday in a televised interview with local media outlets, Ruto emphasized that Kenya is a democratic country that upholds the freedom of free speech and a free press.
He was responding to questions on a protest by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Kinshasa faulted Nairobi for “allowing” the exiled former Chairman of DRC’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) Corneille Nangaa, in the company of M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa, to issue a statement critical to President Felix Tshisekedi’s administration.
“DRC wanted to know whether we can arrest them. We told them Kenya is a democracy, we cannot arrest anyone who has issued a statement. We don’t arrest people who make statements, we arrest criminals,” Ruto said.
“If anybody has committed any criminality, we will go out of our way to deal with them, but [not] issuing statements. How many people in Kenya issue statements against me every day? That is what a democracy is all about.”
Ruto underscored that Kenya is a country with a free press and cannot prevent anyone from engaging with the media.
Weighing in on the decision by DRC to recall their ambassador to Kenya and summoning Kenya’s ambassador to DRC, Ruto acknowledged Kinshasa’s right to do so.
He added that different countries have different ways and protocols of handling different situations but reiterated that Kenya “I cannot arrest anybody merely because they issued a statement.”
“That is undemocratic is a democratic that is not how Kenya is, that is not the Kenya, you all know. We are all different. countries have democracies in different ways,” he added.
Speaking on December 15, during the unveiling of the Congo River Alliance Nangaa stated that the coalition, which also comprises of the military, civil society organizations, and the diaspora community, is motivated by the desire to “save our country from danger and to restore the dignity of the people of Congo.”
The former CENI leader, now residing in exile, accused Tshisekedi’s regime of neglecting the challenges faced by the Congolese people, including insecurity and undermining the independence of institutions and the military.
