At the Summit held last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Presidents of the great lakes region Paul Kagame, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) represented by the Minister of State for the Interior government, Denis Kalume agreed to strengthen DRC’s state institutions, particularly those concerned with security.

The agreement involved disarming and repatriating of Ex-FAR/Interahamwe currently operating in eastern DRC.

They also recommitted themselves to halt supporting negative forces in the region and settle for the urgent need to implement the existing agreements between member states.

This was done so that lasting solutions to the insecurity in the eastern Congo region would be found. The great lakes presidents were facilitated by the US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice at the summit.

The presence of the US in regional matters holds some water.

I hope against all odds that the US is genuine about helping and supporting the Great Lakes Region in creating lasting peace. I am only eager to see good results.

Bugesera