Summit urges dialogue to end regional conflicts

President Kenyatta (left) confers with former president Daniel Moi (right) at State House, Nairobi August 1, 2013. The two leaders held talks on regional peace. PSCU  

 

By PSCU

 

A regional summit of Heads of State has adopted a raft of resolutions aimed at ending the conflicts in some member states.

The Great Lakes Special Summit agreed on a comprehensive peace framework to bring to an end the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan and South Sudan.

In a joint communiqué signed in Nairobi Wednesday, after evaluating the evolution of the security situation in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the special summit supported the Kampala dialogue between the DRC Government and M23, urging the two parties to conclude talks as soon as possible.

In the statement read by Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed, the summit supported the mission of the Intervention Brigade in order to eradicate all negative forces in accordance with the resolutions of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and resolution 2098 of the United Nations Security Council.

The summit, encouraged Rwanda and DRC to continue with bilateral discussions in order to strengthen mutual confidence and cooperation between the two states.

On the framework agreement, the summit expressed optimism that ICGLR, the UN and the African Development Bank would mobilise funds to support peace and security programmes in DRC and within the region in general.

The summit accepted Kenya’s and Sudan’s request to become integral parties to the UN Framework Agreement in order to support the on going efforts that will contribute towards the restoration of peace, stability, development and unity in the region.

On the security situation of other ICGLR member states, the summit urged the Joint Intelligence Fusion Centre to take appropriate action on the situation prevailing between Sudan and Uganda and encouraged them to maintain the momentum of the agreement they signed regarding bilateral and peaceful resolutions of their differences.

The summit decided to take appropriate measures to contain the situation in Eastern DRC and condemned the recent attacks by rebels that has caused deterioration of humanitarian situation in the region.