Great Lakes leaders raise their voices to call out for peace, security
KINSHASA: TANZANIA’S Vice President, Emmanuel Nchimbi, has said that for any country to achieve a lasting sustainable development, peace and inclusiveness must be at the center.
Dr Nchimbi made the statement during the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) held in Kinshasa, where leaders at the summit raised their voices to call out for peace, security, and development within the region.
Speaking during the summit that carried the theme “Enhancing Peace and Security for Sustainable Development in the Great Lakes Region,” the Vice President said that the Great Lakes Region is endowed with vast natural wealth, including rare minerals and human resources, yet the region continues to face long-standing political conflicts driven by various issues such as illegal exploitation of natural resources.
Additionally, he said that the conflicts have led to humanitarian crises, including the displacement of people and widespread human rights violations, largely resulting from war-related crimes.
Moreover, he revealed that Tanzania, as a founding member of the ICGLR, has been actively involved in initiatives aimed at ending conflicts in the region by contributing troops to peacekeeping missions in the DRC and recently hosting the Joint Summit of SADC and EAC Heads of State aimed at finding a solution to the political crisis in eastern DRC.
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Furthermore, Dr Nchimbi commended the various ongoing efforts to resolve conflicts in ICGLR member countries.
The efforts include those led by the President of Angola, João Lourenço, to seek peace in the DRC and the Central African Republic, the signing of a peace agreement in Qatar, the harmonization of the Luanda and Nairobi processes, and the peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC signed under the oversight of the Government of the United States.
However, he noted that despite these efforts, security challenges persist in several countries, particularly the DRC, the Central African Republic, the Republic of South Sudan, and the Republic of Sudan while emphasizing that the path to peace requires cooperation and genuine commitment from all ICGLR member states to address the remaining challenges to build a region that is peaceful, prosperous and economically resilient.
