Africa-Press – Kenya. Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta received a Ksh 6 Billion proposal from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation (HGBF) on Friday, December 2.
HGBF, a US-based private family foundation, wants to provide the special peace envoy with the money to support internally displaced persons and rehabilitate refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The foundation has operated in Africa’s Great Lakes Region since 1999 in support of peace, security and economic development.
This fund will boost Kenyatta’s mediation roles and commitment to Nairobi’s success in coordinating peace within the East African region.
The Foundation asked all parties involved to bring lasting peace and ensure that displaced persons and refugees return home and are resettled peacefully.
“HBGF encourages all parties to bring peace to the Eastern DRC.
“The governments of DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda, as well as the various rebel and fighting elements, should embrace this promise of support to ensure that displaced persons and refugees can return to a stable, secure, and self-reliant DRC,” the statement read.
On Monday, November 28, the East African Community regional bloc convened a meeting in Nairobi to discuss how to solve the political, security and social problems that have plagued DRC for decades.
The talks centred on an inter-Congolese dialogue involving local community leaders, civil society organisations, and some armed groups active in Eastern Congo.
Uhuru, the bloc’s peace envoy to the DRC, urged the Congolese to own the peace process and address the real insecurity problems in Ituri, North and South Kivu and two other provinces.
“To also deepen the consultation of communities and armed groups from the concerned areas for the greater inclusivity and greater ownership of the process, including for the first time with the representatives from Maniema and Tanganyika… and identification of root causes of the conflict in the five provinces and finally to evaluate the concrete modalities for the restoration of state authority in each province,” Kenyatta stated.
In part, Eastern DRC is engulfed in violence because armed groups compete over the area’s rich mines.
The Congolese army has been fighting with the rebel group M23, which it accuses of receiving military support from Rwanda, an accusation denied by Kigali.
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