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Projects to secure peace in volatile region
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By Ken Ramani in Lusaka
Countries in the Great Lakes region are working on a comprehensive
security pact that could guarantee lasting peace.
The region is arguably the most volatile in Africa, thanks to
recurrent violence, poor governance and resource distribution.
Kenya, Angola, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan, DRC, Central
Africa Republic and Republic of Congo and Zambia are working out the
security deal under the auspices of the International Conference on
the Great Lakes Region.
Western countries under the Group of Friends of the Great Lakes Region
Initiative support ICGLR. The body has held two meetings, which
endorsed several projects.
If implemented, the projects will herald the beginning of peace for a
region prone to conflict.
The first ministerial meeting was held in Kigali, Rwanda in February,
while the second was in Lusaka, last week. The meetings were convened
following the Dar es Salaam Declaration in November last year, during
an East African Heads of State summit.
Heads of State of the member countries are scheduled to meet in
November in Nairobi, to sign the peace pact. Among the proposed
projects is the revival and expansion of regional railway and road
transport.
The construction of a pipeline connecting the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda with Kenya’s Mombasa to Eldoret one,
has also been proposed.
The countries have also proposed joint border patrols, the
establishment of a regional good governance centre and a mechanism to
guard against illegal exploitation of natural resources.
During the Lusaka meeting, ministers said the projects would guarantee
employment for the youth and former soldiers.
But as member countries engaged in protracted negotiations and horse-
trading, reluctance to discuss the costs was evident. But the
ministers raised concerns that these projects could duplicate existing
initiatives.
Co-chair of the Group of Friends, Anne Leahy, who is also Canada’s
ambassador to the Great Lakes Region, said that Comesa, SADC and Nepad
were implementing projects similar to those proposed.
"Our role is not to contradict and duplicate initiatives that are
being undertaken but to complement them," she said.
It is not clear whether regional governments would be willing to
provide resources for the projects.
United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan’s special representative,
Ibrahima Fall, admitted the cost of the projects would be enormous.
He noted the amount of money required could only be established after
feasibility studies.
But the leader of the Kenyan delegation, Njuguna Ngunjiri, argued the
cost of feasibility studies would be prohibitive.
"The cost of the studies could finance the projects," he argued.
But Laehy maintained it would be upon individual countries to decide
which projects to fund and noted the mandate of the Group of Friends
would expire after the peace pact.
"We are determined to find peace for the Great Lakes," she said.
The Group of Friends has spent over $3 billion on peace initiatives in
the Great Lakes region over the past few years. A trust fund of $10
million has been used to organise meetings for technical groups that
have developed the projects.
The group has also offered technical diplomatic and political support
to the projects’ formulation. To date, 50 projects and 12 protocols
have been developed.
But the Group of Friends is not comfortable with some projects that
Leahy says are deficient in content and may not achieve intended
results.
"Some of the projects are skewed. They do not clearly indicate the end
result — how they will help promote peace in the Great Lakes," she
said.
Western multinational have been accused of funding rebel in the DRC in
to secure mineral rights.
Leahy said that Canada has reminded its multinationals to observe
basic human rights and values.
She pointed out that several international instruments require multi-
nationals to avoid activities that could cause instability.
According to Leahy, this is the first time a multi-faceted peace pact
will be signed in Africa and its chances of success are high.
Amani, a forum of Members of Parliament from the Great Lakes is
expected to lobby countries to enact legislation to domesticate the
peace pact.
Legislator Philip Rotino, who represented the Amani Kenya Chapter,
said it had become routine for the Executive to sign regional peace
initiatives and only ask MPs to ratify such protocols.
"In most cases the ratification has been regarded as a ‘rubber-
stamping’ ceremony," he argued.
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