Kenyatta Meets with Tshisekedi To Focus On DRC-Kenya Bilateral Relations

The recently elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Felix Tshekedi has met with President Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga during a trip to Kenya.

He was inaugurated just two weeks ago following a tumultuous election period with fellow opposition candidate Martin Faylulu claiming he was in fact the rightful winner. President Kenyatta was the only foreign Head of State to attend the swearing in of Tshekedi.

The DRC leader is on a two-day visit to Kenya for bilateral talks with President Kenyatta where the two leaders are said to have explored ways and means of strengthening relations between the two countries.

President Kenyatta said Kenya was committed to help DRC achieve political stability having learnt valuable lessons from its past political tensions, which the country is willing to share with others.

“We will continue to help you achieve peace and stability because we have had similar experience which we can share. Our country has been able to calm down political temperatures through the famous Building Bridges Initiative,” Mr Kenyatta assured his counterpart.

He said Kenya will partner with DRC in capacity building by offering training opportunities to Congolese public servants in Kenya’s training institutions such as the Kenya School of Government.

“Our partnership will ensure that the countries achieve our founding fathers' dream of a stable, secure and prosperous African continent. We are ready to partner in building infrastructure, sharing skills in the extractive industry and in many other areas of mutual benefit,” President Kenyatta said.

On trade, President Kenyatta observed that a lot of Congolese imports pass through Mombasa port, especially goods destined to Goma and Lubumbashi in eastern DRC, and called for the deepening of trade ties going forward.

Eastern Congo is known for its instability, with the government struggling to contain militia violence, tit-for-tat killings and a recent Ebola outbreak that has left more than 400 dead since August last year.