NAIROBI, Kenya, April 24 – The United Nations (UN) has commended President Uhuru Kenyatta for leading efforts as Chairman of the East African Community (EAC) to foster peace in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in neighboring countries.

Secretary-General Antonio Guteress, who spoke with President Kenyatta on Saturday, assured him of the global body’s support for the initiatives put in place by the regional bloc to promote peace in the war-torn country and in the region in general.

“I just spoke to President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya. The UN fully supports the initiative of East African countries to bring peace to eastern DR Congo and neighboring countries,” Guteress tweeted.

The mineral-rich DRC is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups in the east of the country, many of which are a legacy of two regional wars a quarter century ago.

Millions of people died from violence, disease or starvation in the Congo Wars of 1996-1997 and 1998-2003 – a conflict that tangled countries in East and Central Africa.

President Kenyatta and other leaders from Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC met in Nairobi on Thursday last week to discuss the crisis, with President Kenyatta later announcing that the government in Kinshasa would hold a “consultative meeting” with the rebels to negotiate a peace agreement.

The Nairobi talks come barely a month after the DRC was admitted to the EAC regional bloc, a seven-nation bloc with a single market allowing free trade and movement of citizens

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group – which the so-called Islamic State describes as its local affiliate – has been blamed for thousands of deaths in eastern DRC as well as a series of bombings in the Ugandan capital Kampala.