Fighting has been raging in the east as the M23 rebel group makes territorial advances, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing from their homes.

Kenya is due to host peace talks in the coming days, and has also sent troops to the DRC as part of a joint EAC peacekeeping force.

Kenyatta said Friday that Rwandan President Paul Kagame — whose government is accused by Kinshasa of supporting the M23 — was ready to help in efforts to press the rebels to cease fire and withdraw from captured territory.

During a visit to the east last Thursday, Kenyatta described the situation as a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

Over 120 armed groups are active across the mineral-rich eastern Congo, many of them a legacy of regional wars that flared at the turn of the century.