Uhuru, Ruto publicly meet for the first time since inauguration day

President William Ruto and former Head of State Uhuru Kenyatta have met for the first time since the September 13 inauguration ceremony in Nairobi.

Ruto and Uhuru met on Monday during the launch of the third Inter-Congolese Consultations of the Uhuru-led Nairobi Peace Process, where the two leaders are officiators.

The ceremony was attended by EAC Heads of States summit chairperson and Burundi president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, alongside key invited diplomats as well as African Union and United Nations observers.

The Inter-Congolese Consultations are aimed at bringing to an end the war between DRC forces and M23 rebels.

Speaking at the ceremony, Uhuru, who is the Facilitator of the EAC-led Peace Process in Eastern DRC, noted that there is need for more concerted efforts in restoring peace to DRC's troubled eastern region.

"Having been to Goma and listening to stories of the suffering that people have gone through for so long, I'm more convinced that more effort should be spared in bringing peace and stability to the Eastern side of DRC," said the retired Head of State.

President Tsishekedi was expected to address the delegates virtually. Rwanda's Paul Kagame, Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Samia Suluhu (Tanzania) who were not physically present also addressed the meeting  through a conference call.

The third round is a follow-up to the Inaugural Inter-Congolese Peace Consultation (Nairobi I) that was held in April 2022 and the second consultations, which featured a scoping and mapping mission in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu regions in May 2022 in the DRC.

EAC previously said the Congolese government will resume talks in Nairobi with armed groups, following the two rounds that brought together 30 representatives of the armed groups in the search for peace.

The talks which bring together East African Heads of State and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region are also aimed at convincing Kinshasa to reintegrate the M23 into the process of peaceful peace-making.

The rebels had been excluded from the talks because of renewed fighting with the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) during the first dialogues in Kenya in April this year.