Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu was conspicuously missing at a meeting which was convened by President Uhuru Kenyatta and attended by the rest of the East African heads of state.

The East African Community (EAC) leaders arrived in Nairobi on Monday, June 20 2022, for a meeting convened by President Kenyatta to discuss the security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

“I have arrived in Nairobi, Kenya for the 3rd East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Conclave on the peace and security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),” President Yoweri Museveni tweeted upon touching down in Kenya.

I have arrived in Nairobi, Kenya for the 3rd East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Conclave on the peace and security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). pic.twitter.com/3XNXcGcejB

— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) June 20, 2022

The Heads of State Conclave was set up to encourage dialogue between rebels and the Congolese government.

“People in the eastern DRC have long suffered and continue to pay an inordinately heavy price in loss of lives, property and elusive peace,” President Kenyatta, the current chairman of the EAC, said in a statement announcing Monday’s meeting.

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President Uhuru Kenyatta receives his East African Community (EAC) counterparts Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Evariste Ndayishimiye (Burundi), Salva Kiir Mayardit (South Sudan) and Felix Tshisekedi (DR Congo) at State House, Nairobi for… pic.twitter.com/ebg5gqn1Ko

— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) June 20, 2022

The meeting comes just days after DRC closed its border with Rwanda following the death of a Congolese soldier who was shot while attacking border guards inside Rwandan territory.

The border closure is the latest escalation in a diplomatic crisis that has broken out between the neighbours since rebels that Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting, launched a major offensive in eastern DRC last month.

Rwanda denies DRC’s allegations that it supports the M23 rebels, whose leadership hails from the same Tutsi ethnic group as Rwanda President Paul Kagame.

Suluhu missing, Kagame/Tshisekedi in-attadance

Even as tensions between Rwanda and DRC simmers, the Presidents of the two countries – Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi – arrived in Nairobi on Monday for the Heads of State Conclave.

However, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu was conspicuously missing from the meeting in Nairobi which brought together the rest of the East African heads of state.

State House Kenya confirmed Suluhu’s absence saying that the Tanzanian leader was represented at the meeting by the country’s ambassador to Kenya, High Commissioner John Stephen Simbachawene

“President Samia Suluhu Hassan of the United Republic of Tanzania is represented at the meeting by the country’s ambassador to Kenya, High Commissioner John Stephen Simbachawene,” State House tweeted.

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President Samia Suluhu Hassan of the United Republic of Tanzania is represented at the meeting by the country’s ambassador to Kenya, High Commissioner John Stephen Simbachawene.

— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) June 20, 2022

Suluhu only jetted back to Tanzania on Thursday, June 16 from Saudi Arabia. She embarked on a visit state visit to Middle East countries days earlier.

Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania Samia Suluhu Hassan awasili Zanzibar akitokea nchini Saudi Arabia mara baada ya kuhitimisha ziara yake ya Kiserikali nchini Oman, Mhe Rais Samia alipokewa na Makamu wa Rais Dkt.Philip Isdor Mpango @dr_mpango pic.twitter.com/oGitmmzZfy

— ikulu_Tanzania (@ikulumawasliano) June 16, 2022