The official closing of the Nairobi process of the DRC peace talks will now be done on Tuesday, December 6 after an earlier event was postponed.
The postponement was caused by the move by a section of delegates who walked out in protest over unpaid allowances.
This forced the leader of the peace talks and former Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene at the last minute and assured those in protest they will be paid.
The week-long talks brought together representatives of the DRC government, major rebel groups, survivors of the conflict and civil societies for the first time in the process.
Kenyatta was appointed by the East African Community as the facilitator of peace talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The talks are meant to create avenues for bringing back peace in eastern DRC where more than 120 armed groups are fighting.
There was a scheduled announcement by Kenyatta at the end of the meeting on Monday, December 5 but that was affected after a faction of rebel groups staged a walkout claiming they had not been properly engaged in the peace process.
They also lamented over the lack of payment of allowances.
Kenyatta intervened and pleaded with the delegates to allow him to postpone the meeting to Tuesday as he tries to address the concerns raised.
“I would like to postpone this meeting and ask we meet here tomorrow at 10 am,” he said.
“We know we have enough funds and I know because I was one of the people who helped source the money to help in bringing peace to the DRC.”
He assured the delegates that all the issues will be addressed by the time the meeting starts at 10 am Tuesday, December 6 adding that if that does not happen, he will ensure that no other funds will be released for the peace talks.
Kenyatta said he will also report the people who were in charge of organizing the peace talks to their leaders.
“Maybe they think I am no longer powerful but I have the ear and attention of their leaders so they better bring what is your rightful dues.”
Kenyan troops are among the regional forces in the DRC to foster peace.
The Kenyan troops will join others from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania on the mission in Eastern DRC.
President William Ruto ordered the deployment of 903 soldiers from KDF to join a regional peacekeeping mission-the East African Community Regional Force to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
