PS Korir Sing’oei challenges DR Congo to turn football glory into lasting peace
By David Nthua, June 28, 2026Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei has asked DR Congo’s national football team to use its World Cup moment to push a bigger message of peace back home.
In a post on X on Sunday, June 28, 2026, Sing’oei congratulated the Leopards after what he described as a massive victory at the World Cup, but quickly moved beyond football.
Korir Sing’oei sends an appeal
For him, the win should not end with celebrations, songs and flags. It should also speak to the long search for peace in eastern DR Congo, where conflict has troubled communities for many years.
“A massive victory for DRC at the World Cup. Congratulations to the Team. Time the Leopards deploy this fame to support the longstanding search for peace in Eastern DRC,” Sing’oei wrote.
He then drew a lesson from the Ivory Coast, where football once played a major role in calming a divided country.
Sing’oei recalled how, in October 2005, Didier Drogba and his teammates knelt before television cameras after the Ivory Coast qualified for its first FIFA World Cup and pleaded with warring sides to lay down their weapons.
“Recalling that in October 2005, after the Ivory Coast qualified for their first-ever FIFA World Cup, Didier Drogba and his teammates knelt before national TV cameras at their dressing room and begged both sides to lay down their weapons and forgive each other to halt the country’s civil war,” he said.
The Drogba moment of 2005
According to Sing’oei, that appeal was widely credited with helping inspire an immediate ceasefire.
The PS said DR Congo’s players now have a similar chance to become more than football stars.
“I think the Leopards could be a huge unifying force for the DRC going into the future.
All the best, The Leopards, every success to Africa’s representatives at the Fifa World Cup,” he added.
The message comes at a time when eastern DR Congo remains one of the most-watched conflict zones in Africa.
Kenya has also been involved in regional peace efforts through the East African Community and other diplomatic channels.
For many football fans in Kenya and across the continent, DR Congo’s success is a sporting story. For Sing’oei, it could also be a political and peace-building moment, if the players choose to use their new fame to speak beyond the stadium.
Recently, retired President Uhuru Kenyatta received a report on efforts to bring peace to the DRC. The report focused on actor mapping and entry options for engaging armed groups operating in conflict-affected areas of eastern DRC. Kenyatta, who serves as facilitator of the EAC-led Nairobi Peace Process and AU-Kenya Peace Envoy, thanked participants for what his office described as fruitful deliberations.