Peace and Conflict Management Review

Volume 1 Issue 1 Report of the International Conference on Transitions and Peace Processes in the Article 16 Great Lakes Region, -Prime Holdings, 31 May - 1 June 2007

February 2008

The International Conférence on the Great Lakes Region

Dr. Amb. Richard Sezibera

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Recommended Citation Sezibera, Dr. Amb. Richard (2008) "The International Conférence on the Great Lakes Region," Peace and Conflict Management Review: Vol. 1 : Iss. 1 , Article 16. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/pcmr/vol1/iss1/16

This Presentations and Discussions is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Access Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peace and Conflict Management Review by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sezibera: The International Conférence on the Great Lakes Region THEME VI: UN/AU INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE GLR

1996. when with the resolution no 3710 the Security Council proposed holding a confe rence under the pa tronage of UNO and OAU which would consider all the problem s which this

region is facing. The Security Council \ :V< I S especia lly worried about insecu rity which was prevailing in east of Zaire (the current Democratic Rep u blic of Con go, DRC) and the retu rn of humanitarian agencies. It recom­ mended stopping hostilities and encouraging the voluntmy return of the Rwandan refugees to their country of origin: the cause of their exile being the lack of confidence of these Refugees in the new gover n men t of Kigali. For the latter. the real cause was the fact that

million s of people were taken as h os t ag~s by

The Intemational Conference on the Great genocidal forces: the neutralization of these Lakes Region forces was the only solution to the problem. by Dr. Amb. Richard SEZIBERA The first difficulty to overcome during the On 15 October 2006. Heads of state and preparatory p hase. which lasted from 1997 till governmen t of the region signed in Na irobi, a 2003, was to d etermine who was going to steer Pact on s ecurity . stability and developm en t this conferen ce. UNO had s hown itself inca­ pable of resolving confli cts on the ground . OAU within the framework of the International has a lways stu ck on the s acrosanct principle of Conference on the Grea t Lakes region . It was the respect for the sovereign p ower of States. a an important moment in the pu rsuit of pea ce non-a pplicable principle in the situation of a nd development in this region which has been massive crimes committed by the State. The so fa r marked by conflicts. the victory of hope former colonia l powers had been involved in the recent h istory of this region. Rwa nda wis h ed an over pessimism African solution with in terna tiona l pa rtners. In S evera l groups of civil society were involved in the UN Secu rity CounciL the role of initia tives the process which led first to the Decla ration of on the region was entrus ted to France whose Dar es Salaam in 2004 . then to the Pact itself. credibility wa s questioned by the genocide of They inclu de women a n d youth associations, Tutsis. After several dialogu es , a consensus emerged for the co-direction of UNO and OAU. members of parlia m ent. religiou s leaders, the

handicapped. the media. etc. In , the The second difficulty concerned the setting up represen tatives of these groups were part of the of the theme of the con ference: what was it national d elegation du ring the n egotiations . going to be talked a bout? The situ ation h a d The pact is consequ en tly supportep by large ch a n ged in DRC which is a lways engulfed in complex conflicts, in Bunmdi, the Ta n zanian categories of th e pop ulations from the region. and South African m ediators were busy The idea of a n International Conferen ce on th e resolving the civil war, in Rwanda . the refugees Grea t Lakes region da tes b a ck from November, had returned massively. Four s ubjects were Published by Scholar Commons, 2008 1 26 I CCM Peace and Conflict Management Review Peace and Conflict Management Review, Vol. 1, Iss. 1 [2008], Art. 16 finally retained: peace and security. democracy members to which it applies. The ten protocols and good governance. economic and regional which were adopted at that occasion ware very integration. social and humanitarian issues. much supported.

Finally. the third difficulty concerned the par­ The International Conference on the Great ticipants. After several dialogues, two cate­ Lakes Region, in spite. of its controversial .~ories of participants emerged from discus­ debuts, or maybe thanks to these. gives a solid sions: seven countries (seven core countries) base for the construction of peace in the directly affected by the ramifications of the Region. Rwandan crisis (, Rwanda, DRC,

Uganda. Tanzania. Zambia and Kenya) and the It is certain that once implemented, the impres­ co-opted countries (co-opted countries) which ~ sive content of its Protocols and projects, in the are neighbors of those of the previous category four thematic fields· of the Conference. would (Angola. Congo. RCA and Sudan). transform the region of persevering conflict into a place of shared prosperity and development. At the structural level. the preparatory phase knew a tension between the countries of the The Conference dedicates the double principle region which wanted to own this process and of ownership and crucial international partner­ UNO who had given the idea of it. Finally the ship for the post-genocide reconstruction and structures put into place (national coordina­ development. An important number of the proj­ tors. the joint secretariat UNO I OAU, regional ects will be executed by or through the close cooperation with the existing Regional meetings) allowed an interaction among the Communities. For that. its multilateral nature participants which decreased fear. hostility and introduces an element of synergy with the exist­ mutual distrust which characterized their rela­ ing groups without having to aggravate ten­ tions. sions. As regards Rwanda, the conference fills some gaps in the effort to approach the chal­ At the political level. it is the vision which sug­ lenges of Peace, Security and Development in a g<>sted establishing programs for the future of holistic way. Whether this may remain on paper the region, instead of mulling over the past. in or serve as a real new direction towards a order to make it a zone of peace and prosperity. future of hope and prosperity for all, that which was adopted and was followed in the depends to a large extent, on the efforts of the documents. But that fact did not put an end to partnership forged during the preparatory phase. Its successes will also require an the differences of visions and interests. That informed national and international leadership was to be illustrated by the request made by the as well as the determination of a well-defined joint secretariat UNO OAU to admit FDLR as I civil society . an observer: a proposal which was rejected but which provoked indignation from Rwanda and other member countries

The purpose of the Pact is to provide a legal

framewor~ for the relations between States

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