Relations between Nairobi and Kinshasa are headed for worse as the two governments trade accusations over a newly formed rebel movement.
According to details reaching Taarifa Political Desk, DRC is accusing Kenya of facilitating the formation and arming a new rebel group which has declared war Against DRC.
Taarifa Political Desk has learned that Peter Kazadi Kankonde DRC’s Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Interior, Security and Customary Affairs has summoned to his office, the charge d’affaires at the Kenyan Embassy in Kinshasa.
Local Congolese press Actualite has reported that this meeting was aimed at expressing the concerns of the Congolese government regarding the support given by Kenya to the former president of the Congolese electoral center and to certain M23 officials.
During this meeting, Peter Kazadi urged Kenya to respect the rules governing the Eastern Community of States, of which the DRC and Kenya are members.
He reminded the Kenyan representative of the charter of this community, which prohibits any mutual attack between member countries and the maintenance of armed groups destabilizing the respective countries.
“It was a question of expressing to him the concerns of the Democratic Republic of Congo in relation to what we discovered in social networks, where a group of individuals was formed from Kenyan territory and launched a rebel movement, an insurrectional movement, an armed movement which has declared on Kenyan soil that it will attack the Democratic Republic of Congo,”said Peter Kazadi.
“I wanted to remind this representative of the Republic of Kenya in our country to stick to the rules and several instruments which bind us in particular the charter of the community of East African States, which ensures that we cannot attack each other, that we cannot maintain armed bands which destabilize our respective countries”, Kazadi told local media after the meeting.
With the situation turning ugly, the DRC has effectively recalled its ambassador stationed in Nairobi for consultation.
“The Congolese government reserves the right to announce other measures in the coming days. At the same time, the Congolese government asked Kenya to put an end to this activism on its soil,” Kazadi warned.
He added that Congolese authorities remain vigilant in the face of this new political-military alliance and call for increased regional cooperation to preserve stability and security in the Great Lakes region.
