Former President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday, November 28, rubbed shoulders with East African leaders including his successor William Ruto at Safari Park.
Their meeting marked the first time the two shared a podium since the latter’s swearing-in ceremony on September 13, 2022.
The duo were pictured alongside other leaders who gathered at the hotel to mark the Third Round Inter-Congolese Peace Consultations popularly referred to as Nairobi III.
The talks, which are aimed at finding lasting solutions to restore peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were headed by the former Head of State.
In his speech, President Ruto heaped praise on the Head of State for transcending political divide pre-elections in August to fostering peace between the two regimes.
He noted that he approached the former Head of State immediately after the elections and asked him to stay on as a peace envoy for the DRC talks which he agreed.
“You may wish to know that my predecessor, President Uhuru Kenyatta here, and myself were on different sides of the political contest two months ago and the competition was stiff. After the elections, I met his excellency the president, looked at him in the eye and I told him, ‘Mr President, you have started a very important process in the EAC and I would like you to continue that process,’ and he told me he was ready to do it despite all that had gone on.
“Because of the interest of our nation, region, continent and because peace was important to Kenya and DRC and our region, Kenyatta has done a wonderful job as he facilitates this process because we value peace,” stated Ruto
Uhuru, on the other hand, noted that since the talks began, relative peace had been realised after a number of armed groups agreed to join the talks for lasting peace in Eastern DRC.
“The efforts that we have deployed in the framework of the Nairobi process have indeed yielded positive results and as we meet here today, I would like to indicate that there are a number of armed groups that undertook to cease hostilities in advance of Nairobi one and have kept their part of the bargain to date.
“I would like to commend these groups for vesting their faith on the process that we are undertaking and on our part, we commit to do everything possible to ensure the success of this initiative,” explained Uhuru.
The two leaders had been on opposite sides during the campaigns when Uhuru, the then Head of State, threw his support behind Raila Odinga who was Ruto’s main competitor in the State House race.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE