Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Congo: Read it and weep.


ICGLR press release 

Presse Statement: ICGLR efforts to stabilize the Eastern Part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Member States affected by the crisis

Wednesday 14 November 2012



Bujumbura,7th November 2012: The Executive Secretariat of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) is pleased to inform the international, regional and public community that efforts are underway to stabilize the Eastern Part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Member States affected by the crisis.


                  The war displaced coming from KIBUMBA this Thursday, November 15 (Photo Magloire Paluku)

In this regard, the ICGLR Executive Secretariat would like to recall that since the eruption of the crisis, Heads of States and Government of the Region demonstrated their commitment and will to combine their efforts as witnessed through the four Extraordinary Summits successfully held in Addis-Ababa and Kampala. The major objective pursued through the Summits was to find a rapid and sustainable solution to the crisis. 

The ICGLR Executive Secretariat is pleased to note that as a result of these Summits, considerable progress has been made on the ground including cessation of hostilities, establishment of an Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (JVM) and a Military Assessment Team (MAT) whose mandate was to prepare the operationalization of the International Neutral Force.


The ICGLR Executive Secretariat would like to encourage Member States to pursue the efforts towards a final settlement of the crisis and urge the International Community to continue supporting Member States initiatives including the efforts of the ICGLR Chairman under the able Leadership of H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda, in his quest for sustainable peace as provided for in the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region, signed in Nairobi, Kenya, on 15 December 2006.


Back in August I blogged about this talkfest.


" A neutral international force will be set up to hunt down armed groups in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), regional leaders agreed yesterday.

The Heads of State and Government summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) held in Kampala from August 7-8 established a subcommittee composed of defence ministers from seven member states tasked to provide details on the operationalization of the force.

The subcommittee was mandated to propose “urgent actionable steps to ensure that fighting stops completely to allow for consolidation of peace, security and stability,” reads part of a statement issued at the end of the two-day summit."

" The subcommittee is made up of ministers of defence from Angola, Burundi, DRC, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Members of the team, chaired by Uganda’s defence minister, are expected to meet in the eastern Congolese town of Goma next week, according to sources. The team has just weeks to submit an interim report to the ICGLR Chairperson, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, before delivering the final report in four weeks at another Heads of State summit in Kampala."
Guess we saw the results of that over the last few days.

No comments:

Post a Comment