Peace, Security and Governance in the Great Lakes Region

The seminar, “Peace, Security, and Governance, in the Great Lakes region,” the first in the third phase of the International peace Academy’s (IPA) Africa program, jointly organized with the Office of the Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region (Kenya), place in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, from 15-17 December 2003. Other partners in the convening of the policy seminar included: the African Dialogue Center for Conflict Management and Development Issues (Tanzania), the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation Tanzania), the UN Sub-regional Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa Cameroon), and the Centre for Conflict Resolution (South Africa). Approximately sixty participants – diplomats, high ranking military officers, academics, and civil society actors – drawn largely from the great Lakes region, attended the conference. Notable participants included: Mr. Joseph S. Warioba, former prime minister of the United Republic of Tanzania; Mr. Phillemon Sarungi (MP), Minister for Defense and National service of the United Republic of Tanzania; and Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, Chairman of the board of Trustees of the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation and former Secretary General of the organization of African Unity. The primary objective of the seminar was to assess the prospects for durable peace and security and to identify the challenges to democratization in the Great Lakes region. The policy seminar proved particularly timely as the main countries in conflict in the region Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – stand at varying degrees of transition and harbor the potential for renewed violence. Rwanda has conducted two elections since the 1994 genocide, but the credibility of the electoral processes has been disputed and elements of structural violence have not completely disappeared. In Burundi, while the main Hutu insurgent group has acceded to the peace agreement, the parti pour la liberation du peuple hutu Forces nationals de liberation (PALIPEHutu-FNL) have not. Plans for the demobilization of former combatants and reintegration of refugees from the 1993 political violence are yet to be effectively implemented. Finally, in the DRC, the active presence of Rwandan militias in the Kivu provinces is causing the Rwandan army to deploy into the DRC, thus violiating the Pretoria Agreement between the two countries. It highlights the need to resolve domestic security concerns in Rwanda in tandem with the sub-regional peace process underway in the DRC. Prospects for the consolidation of peace in the region will depend on an empowered civil society, strongly institutionalized and efficient sub-regional organizations, and strategic intervention International Community. In this regard, IPA’s partnership with the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for the Great Lakes Region gave participants an opportunity to provide recommendations for increasing the impact of the upcoming International Conference on the Great Lakes region on peace, security, and governance in the sub-region. The international Conference, to be organized as a series of summits by the Office of the SRSG starting in November 2004, will also provide the sub-region civil society, women’s Groups, and youth organizations the opportunity to participate in the planning of a blueprint for engendering economic and social development in the great Lakes region. Equally important, conflict resolution the sub-region’s core countries of Rwanda, Burundi, and the DRC was discussed as a function of how well these countries successfully address domestic and regional issues. To this end, participants emphasized such measures as building strong democratic and economic institutions, eliminating poverty under development, curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, stemming the illicit trade of small arms and light weapons (SALWs), and designing durable solutions for addressing issues of concern to refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). Furthermore participants underscored that partnerships with the International Community, the strengthening of regional economic integration were critical to resolving these issues.