Researchers from the University of Rwanda and activists in peace and security building in the Great Lakes region, yesterday, concluded a meeting that discussed how to link theories and practices in peace building.

The two-day conference was organised under the theme, "Assessing regional responses for peace and security in the Great Lakes region: bridging theories to practices.”

Dr Aggée Shyaka Mugabe, a senior lecturer at the University of Rwanda and coordinator of Masters programnes at the Centre for Conflict Management, said they want to work closely with policymakers to improve peace building mechanisms in the region.

"Some of us have abilities to make analyses that can help policymakers to make right and informed decisions on peace building and security issues. We want to come up with such analyses to help our leaders,” Dr Mugabe said.

Dr Usta Kayitesi, the principal for University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences, said researchers should be more involved in peace building and not interpreting regional conflicts anyhow to suit their interests.

"Our region has peace and security dimensions that need researchers to be more involved. There are some who wrongly portray conflicts in the region so that they can take advantage of the situation to achieve their own goals,” she noted.

"For instance, the problem of FDLR; , I don’t think the militia is as strong as it is portrayed. There should be research to counter the way it is depicted, which I think is one of the factors keeping it alive”, Dr Kayitesi added.

The meeting, which brought together policymakers, practitioners, non-govermental organisations, and researchers, was organised by the University of Rwanda’s Centre for Conflict Management.