Rwanda President Paul Kagame, on Thursday, March 2, advised retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto to show more vigour in spearheading the Democratic Republic of Congo peace talks.
In a joint interview at his Kigali residence, Kagame noted that President Ruto and Uhuru - who is the official facilitator of the EAC peace process - should address shortcomings in the process directly without fear of reproach or criticism.
An assignment of such, he stated, demands the facilitators be ready to face anything including making foes in the process.
“You do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings by telling them something they ought to do but they do not want to do.
"So if you are the convener of this process you can afford even to be disliked, you should be prepared for that,” Kagame noted.
Kagame’s remarks came amid jitters within the East African Community (EAC), with allegations that some parties were not cooperative.
Though considered to have made significant progress, the peace talks have in the past experienced setbacks deemed to have slowed down the process of pacifying the warring parties.
Earlier in the year, Uhuru was compelled to convene a crisis meeting in Nairobi after the parties in the conflict failed to comply with a ceasefire agreement and consequently leading to the deteriorating of security in Eastern DRC.
The former President on January 31 urged the parties to maintain strict adherence to the principles entrenched in the Nairobi and Luanda agreements promoting dialogue and consultation.
At some point, Uhuru criticised organisers after they were accused of failing to remit allowances for delegates.
The former head of state has also been in the spotlight for supporting former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who vowed not to recognise Ruto as Kenya's president. Ruto's allies thus demanded Uhuru be recalled from the peace envoy role.
In addition, some quarters within the EAC pointed out the diplomatic tiff between DRC and Rwanda as a significant hurdle in the process of attaining peace in the affected region.
The two neighbouring nations have had a soured relationship, with both sides accusing each other of sabotaging the peace talks.
Meanwhile, the Nairobi Peace Talks and Luanda talks are expected to continue as the facilitators look to get past the DRC conflict.
