Tanzania plays host to ‘insecurity’ in Great Lakes Region

TANZANIA is hosting Great Lakes Regional conference that would come up with a way forward in restoring peace and security in war-torn member countries.

A two-day Forum of Parliaments of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (FP-ICGLR) started yesterday in Dar es Salaam with focus on insecurity and deteriorating political situation in Burundi, South Sudan and DR Congo.

This is the second statutory meeting of the committee on ‘Peace and Security’ of the FP-ICGLR. The FP-ICGLR is an inter-parliamentary organisation bringing together 12 Parliaments of the member countries of the ICGLR namely Angola, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

Dr Christine Ishengoma, who represented Speaker of National Assembly Job Ndugai as guest of honour in the meeting, said the gathering was very crucial given that some of the countries in the region are still in conflict.

“We should discuss about the fate of these countries,” she pointed out. Secretary General of the FP-ICGLR, Mr Higiro Prosper, said despite that the situation is being handled in war-torn countries, the circumstance was volatile.

“These countries have signed peace agreement but implementation has become difficult, so through this forum we will find a way forward,” Mr Prosper said. President of the committee, Mr Arinaitwe Rwakajara, said it is expected that the meeting would discuss issues affecting the region to make it safe.

Since there is a corresponding committee to the axis of peace and security which is in operation in accordance to section 3 of the internal rules of the FP-ICGLR, it was imperative to organize the second statutory meeting of the committee, Mr Rwakajara said.