Uhuru arrives in troubled Goma, DR Congo, after peace talks in Kinshasa

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta DRC

Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta with Serge Tshibangu, a special representative of President Felix Antoine Tshisekedi, during a press conference in Hotel du Fleuve in Kinshasa on November 14, 2022.

Photo credit: Arsene Mpiana | AFP

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived in the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, after two days of working for dialogue and peace in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

Mr Kenyatta went to DRC on Sunday, a day after the arrival of Kenyan troops in Goma, where he met with President Felix Tshisekedi. 

After conclusion of talks in Kinshasa, the former president landed in Goma Tuesday, a city now gripped by panic as M23 rebels approach. 

"The city of Goma is in a state of fear right now," Dady Saleh, a resident of Goma, told the Nation. 

Kenyan troops are expected to join their EAC counterparts in fighting the rebels whose fighting has displaced thousands of people. Heavy fighting in Kibumba and Kanyaruchinya, and the overall fighting in North Kivu, has forced more than 200,000 people to flee their villages.

According to local civil society, the fighting between M23 and FARDC is now less than 20 kilometres from the town.

Uhuru speaks in Kinshasa on DRC conflict