On August 15, President Ruto announced the redeployment of ambassadors, high commissioners, consuls general and deputy heads of mission to 20 posts worldwide, including Goma. Among the nominees was Judy Kiaria Nkumiri, tapped to serve as Kenya's Consul-General in the city, which has been under the control of the M23 rebel coalition since January 2025.
The following day, the DRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly questioned the move, citing the lack of prior consultations.
In a statement released Monday, Kenya's Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs Minister Musalia Mudavadi stressed that the nomination was only the first step in a longer constitutional and diplomatic process.
'Presidential nomination does not in itself constitute a diplomatic posting,' Mudavadi said. 'Once parliamentary approval is secured, Kenya will formally seek agreement from the DRC government. In the case of Goma, the process further requires the issuance of an exequatur before the Consul-General may assume official duties.'
Kenya emphasised that the redeployment of diplomats is aimed at strengthening service delivery and advancing its Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), not geopolitical manoeuvring.
'It is not intended to undermine ongoing regional peace efforts or the territorial integrity and sovereignty of any state,' the statement read, reaffirming Nairobi's commitment to the joint EAC-SADC-AU peace initiative in the DRC.
Mudavadi added that he had spoken with his Congolese counterpart, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, to provide clarification.
Kenya and the DRC have shared diplomatic ties since 1963. Nairobi opened its embassy in Kinshasa in 1968, while the DRC set up its mission in Nairobi around the same time. More recently, the DRC inaugurated a consulate in Mombasa in September 2023, while Kenya established its consulate in Goma in March 2022.
The clarification comes amid heightened sensitivities in eastern Congo, where Goma and Bukavu, the two largest cities in the region, are under M23 control.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/kenya-clarifies-nomination-of-consul-general-to-goma
