UHURU KENYATTA ; A BEACON OF PEACE AND TRANQUILITY IN GREAT LAKES REGION AND HORN OF AFRICA.

 Since handing over the instruments of power in a peaceful wat to his then Deputy President who ended up winning the August 9 presidential election President William Ruto , former President Uhuru Kenyatta has been preoccupiedin fighting lasting peace in both Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As the former head of state , Uhuru Kenyatta has forba long time expressed a desire to allow peace to reign even when he was in power. As a realist, he should his fellow realists in the continent of Africa especially our neighbours Uganda. We all saw how the son of President Museveni was mad with him for retiring at the age of 61 years. How??? That's the question Lt. Gen Muhoozi has never got and answer on but the president was all through clear that , once his term comes to an end , he will hand over power to whoever will win , whether he supported him or not.  Ever since , he has been on and off Kenya trying hard to bring the warring parties on the table and to ensure the guns have fallen silent.

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta diplomatic acumen and aura has spread not only in the African continent but also in the international community. His first assignment in his peace mission which he did jointly with former Nigerian President Gen (RTD) Olusegun Obasanjo was in Ethiopia where , the Tygrian People Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopia forces which had led to the lose of lives on a monumental scale, hundred of thousands displaced , injured , children dying of malnutrition, women and men who survived the clashes suffering both psychologically and emotionally. Things in the Tygray was disastrous and it is documented and recorded by various human rights organizations, World food Programme and United High Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) that , most of the atrocious acts were committed by the Eritrean Defence Forces. It is historical that , the President Isaias Afwerki's regime doesn't love the Tigrayans. They hate them with a passion because, during their secession war to annex themselves from the larger Ethiopia, the regime in power then was in the hand of Tygrayans. So , when this conflict started , Ethiopia PM Abbiy Ahmed had no option but to ask his friend Eritrea stong man Afwerki to led him a hand. It is an a plea that Asmara accepted in both hands. To them, the second holocaust after that of Germans against Jews during the reign of Adolf Hitler was to be meted on the Tygrayans. That they be obliterated from not only in Ethiopia but in the world. 

The peace deal between PM Abbiy Ahmed and the Tygray People's Liberation Front honchos was midwifed in Pretoria in the presence of Uhuru Kenyatta and Obasanjo. Immediately, the guns fell silent and the follow up activities inorder to ensure that both parties commit themselves on the peace deal which they inked is going on well under the auspices of the African Union. Former president Uhuru Kenyatta has been engaging the Ethiopian delegation that is committed is finding lasting peace on the progress. Just last week , a deal was inked to ensure all the Eritrean Defence Forces leave Ethiopia with immediate effect especially in the Tygray region. The town of Mekele , which is the commercial and administrative hub of federal state of Tygray is coming back to life in an accelerating manner something that tells us that the peace deal was genuine. As we speak, Ethiopia is now a haven of peace and tranquility. Uhuru Kenyatta was committed when he started this cause and truly, bearing it is not an easy task which, with a fragile heart , you can easily bow out but he has soldiered on and his efforts have come to fruition.

Kris Berwouts in his book , Congo's violent peace: conflict and struggle since the great African war. , He has vividly captured the problems that have been ailing this central African largest country in geographic size and mineral endowed and a fragmented society due to its multi ethnic characterisation. The Congo crisis did not start today but days shy after attaining independence from Belgium in 1960. Ever seen , this country have been enjoying cosmetic peace. In my earlier article on the ongoing conflict between the Congolese forces and thr M23 , I pointed out the Rwanda long shadow in this war in the Eastern parts of Kivu ( north and south). It is very difficult to divorce Rwanda from this ongoing conflict. This monister by the name movement du 23 mars  (Movement of March 23) is their creation. This are Congolese Tutsis who were holding brief in the Eastern DRC and it a mutation of Congres National pour la Defense du peuple (National Congress for the Defence of the people) which after the collapse after the arrest of its leader Laurent Nkunda and later Don Bosco "Terminator" Ntaganda who shocked the world after presenting himself to the International Criminal Court (ICC) , the tutsi fearing that the Hutu militia Democratic Forces for the liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) , who fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide and pro-Hybarimana regime, started lauching guerilla attacks on Paul Kagame regime who through his rebel militia Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) drove out the Hutu goverment and installed a new Tutsi regime.  To address this conflict, the East Africa regional Force (EACRF) , South Africa Defence Forces, Burundian Defence Forces among other East Africa Community members, they must understand the historical and cultural underbelly that have engraved itself and also , not forgetting the multinational corporations especially those who engage in mining industry.

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has been leading the political wing of finding the lasting peace in this new lad in the East Africa Community block. DRC president Henry Tshiekedi has been under pressure and his regime is hanging precariously on an edge of a knife. He is truly struggling to gain legitimacy especially in East and southern DRC. Apart from Kinshasa, the other regions where M23 is posing gravious threats are slowly drifting from his grip. So far Uhuru Kenyatta has even visited Goma, the heart beat of this deadly and bloody conflict. He was captured listening to distressed Congolese especially women with their children on their backs and paraphernalia that could shelter them from the bitting cold of the night. It is horrible but in all this , Kigali has been denying being the architects behind this war but the blood is all over its body. As the military interventions understand East Africa regional Force and United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) , the political dialogue led by Uhuru Kenyatta is supplementing it and very soon, a peace deal will be brokered if only spoilers like Kigali accepts that , peace is sweater and before it , its international image will continue being dented. 

I believe they if peace was broker in Ethiopia , even in DRC will be brokered. The former head of state who isn't new with the situation in this country whose arable land if put under cultivation, it can feed its populus citizenry and also feed the entire east and southern Africa. If its mineral resources can be exploited and sold those proper modalities other than the heist which is seen there , this is a Country whoss GDP can be higher than that of Nigeria and South Africa. But as we speak, it is a country with the most impoverished people in the sub Saharan Africa. It is very disheartening and heartbreaking. Let's hope against hope that at last , peace and tranquility will be achieved.