Great Lakes countries explore means to  promote the region’s peace, security

KINSHASA: The 20th Ordinary Meeting of National Coordinators of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) held on Monday, in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) seeks to collect recommendations that will improve the performance of the ICGLR Secretariat.

The meeting is part of the preparations for the 19th Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (RIMC) and the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the ICGLR, scheduled to take place on November 13 and 15 this year.

Opening the meeting, the Minister of Regional Integration of the DRC, Floribert urged the coordinators to use the meeting to come up with recommendations that will improve the performance of the ICGLR Secretariat so that it can more effectively carry out its core mandate of promoting peace, security, and development in the 12 member states of the organization.

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Tanzania, being one of the founding members of the ICGL, is actively participating in the meeting, with the country’s delegation led by the National Coordinator and Assistant Director of the Africa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Ellen Maduhu.

Meanwhile, the ICGL Executive Secretary, Ambassador João Samuel Caholo, stated that although the Secretariat has achieved significant progress under his leadership, more efforts are still needed to ensure lasting peace and security in the region particularly in the DRC, the Republic of the Sudan, the Republic of South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

Moreover, the Executive Secretary attributed poverty, inequality, and citizens’ lack of access to their countries’ resources as among the root causes of conflicts in Africa and called for an end to conflicts by addressing their underlying causes.