Kagame in Angola for ICGLR meet

President Paul Kagame arrived in Luanda, Angola, yesterday to attend the fifth Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), which is scheduled to open today.President Paul Kagame is in Luanda, Angola where he will today join his counterparts from the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) for the bloc’s fifth ordinary summit of heads of state and government.The Rwandan leader arrived in the Southern African country yesterday, according to his office.The summit, preceded by a series of preparatory meetings that kicked off on November 10, is running under the theme: “Let’s promote peace, security, stability and development in the Great Lakes Region.”Top on the agenda is the fight against terrorism in the Great Lakes region and the implementation of the 2006 ICGLR Pact on peace, security, stability and development in the Great Lakes.The pact, signed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, seeks to create conditions for sustainable security, stability and economic development among the 12 member states of the ICGLR.The summit comes at a time when the region is threatened by renewed civil wars, with ongoing bloody conflicts in South Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR), which have killed thousands of civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands others. At the summit, the host, President Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, will take up the ICGLR chair from his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni who has led the regional grouping for the last two years.Several western diplomats were expected to attend the summit, among them, the US Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Russell D. Feingold.Also expected to attend is South African President Jacob Zuma, whose country is not a member of the ICGLR.The Chiefs of Intelligence Services and Chiefs of Defence Staff from ICGLR member states were the first to meet in the Angolan capital on January 10, followed by the Defence and Foreign affairs ministers.In the recent past, the regional bloc has been hailed for playing a key part in ending fighting that erupted in the neighbouring DR Congo nearly two years ago.The ICGLR comprises Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

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Kagame in Angola for ICGLR meet