Nairobi, Dec 17 (AFP/APP):Kenya's foreign ministry said on Sunday it "strongly disassociates" with a Congolese opposition figure who forged an alliance with rebels while in Nairobi, spurring diplomatic fury with Kinshasa.
Corneille Nangaa, ex-head of DR Congo's electoral commission, announced on Friday in a hotel in the Kenyan capital that he was creating a political-military alliance with M23 rebels and other armed groups.
The move sparked an angry response from the Congolese government who warned Kenya of "consequences" for hosting him.
"Kenya strongly disassociates itself from any utterances or activities likely to injure the peace and security of the friendly Nation of DRC," Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi said in a statement.
Mudavadi said Kenya had begun investigations "to determine the identities of the makers of the statement and the extent to which their utterances fall outside constitutionally protected speech".
He defended the fact that the "freedom of the press is vouchsafed" in Kenya and anyone was free to engage the media without reference to the government.
President William Ruto later said Kenya had rejected DRC's request to arrest the opposition figures.
"We don't arrest people who have made a statement, we arrest criminals," Ruto told journalists.
"If anyone has committed any criminality, we will go out of our way to deal with them," he said.
