Kenyan President William Ruto and visiting Angolan President Joao Lourenсo emphasized the importance of cantonment of the M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during a press conference in Nairobi.
The Angolan President noted that "great progress" has been made in the Nairobi and Luanda progress, which aim to achieve sustainable peace and security in Eastern DRC, but the cantonment of militants has not been accomplished.
"Jointly we have made good progress but we have become stagnant on one item. We need to have the M23 cantonment carried out," Lourenco said.
The president added that if this is not achieved, mediators could lose all the gains that have been made "at the cost of great sacrifices."
He was echoed by Kenyan leader William Ruto, who expressed the East African nation's willingness to develop a mechanism to canton rebels in the DRC as part of the Nairobi process.
"We believe that it is an achievable mission to engage in consultations to stabilize eastern part of DRC and allow the people of DRC in general to benefit from their progress, development and stability," the president remarked.
In addition to mediation, Kenya is participating with Uganda, South Sudan and Burundi in the East African Community Regional Force operations against militants in eastern DRC. The force was deployed to the country last November in response to the deteriorating security situation in the east of the country amid a widespread insurgency.
In August, the Southern African Development Community, which includes Angola, also approved a decision to send a contingent to the DRC to provide security.
The meeting between the presidents of Kenya and Angola, which took place the day before, touched upon bilateral cooperation in addition to discussing security in the DRC. The countries signed 11 agreements to develop relations in a number of areas, and Kenya canceled visas for Angolan citizens and restored direct flights to Luanda.