Omamo Urges South Sudan, Ethiopia, DR Congo to Emulate Kenyatta Handshake With Odinga for Peace

Raychelle Omamo (thebrief.co.ke)

Nairobi — Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo has urged parties in the South Sudan, Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo conflicts to emulate the handshake between President Kenyatta and Raila Odinga.

Speaking during a meeting with various ambassadors on Monday, Omamo indicated that this is the only way to foster peace within the region.

She emphasised the need for both parties not to be rigid but to give way to dialogue which will in turn result in good relations between opponents.

The latest clashes in Sudan’s Darfur region between Arab and non-Arab groups have left more than 100 people killed, a tribal leader said on Monday.

“The fighting killed 117 people and left 14 villages burnt in the locality of Kolbus in West Darfur,” said Ibrahim Hashem, a leader in the ethnic African Gimir tribe.

Hashem said the fighting took place between the Gimir and the Arab Rizeigat tribe.

A rebel group in eastern DR Congo that the government accuses of being supported by Rwanda has overrun a trading hub on the border with Uganda, local sources said on Monday.

M23 fighters seized the town of Bunagana in North Kivu province as some government forces retreated into Uganda, they said.

Bunagana “is under enemy control,” a Congolese officer said, who was reached by AFP by phone from Goma.

“The army has just given way and is heading into Uganda,” said Damien Sebusanane, head of a local civil society association, who was on the Ugandan side of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“An army truck has just gone past, four jeeps and other vehicles which are full of soldiers,” he said, estimating the number of DRC troops retreating into Uganda at around 100.

A humanitarian source on the ground said that heavy clashes broke out again on Sunday morning and the only way out for the embattled DRC troops was to cross into Uganda.

In Ethiopia, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which ruled the country for more than three decades before Abiy came to power in 2018, has been designated a terrorist group by the current government.