EU committed to supporting regional stability; says envoy

The European Union (EU) will continue supporting efforts by countries in the Great Lakes aimed at restoring peace and stability in the region. This was revealed by the EU Special Representative to the Great Lakes Region Roeland Van de Geer during his visit to Rwanda, as part of his regional tour to assess the security situation. The EU envoy, who was on routine observation of the peace processes in the region, on Friday held talks on the situation in the great lakes with the Minister of Defence Gen. James Kabarebe. In an interview with The New Times, Van de Geer said that the EU, as part of international effort, is committed to continue supporting the 4 region peace processes currently running including the Nairobi process to end armed conflict in Eastern DR Congo and the Juba process to end the LRA insurgency in Uganda. “As part of international efforts, the EU feels very committed to these processes. As you know most of these processing are running very well apart from the LRA Juba process which we are still experiencing challenges,” “The processes relating to the east of Congo, there is considerable progress but it still requires international efforts---most especially between Kigali and Kinshasa,” Van de Geer said. The EU official and the Defence Minister discussed the regional situation where the latter was briefed on a number of outcomes in the discussions in New York, Washington, Nairobi and Pretoria as well as the engagement of EU and other international players towards ending the FDLR menace in DRC. “In the discussions I underlined the joint efforts by EU and the African Union to continue to address situation in the region in terms of the security sector reform, the fight against the leadership of the FDLR, illegal exploitation of mineral resources and the fight to end sexual violation,” the EU special representative said. He noted that the EU welcomes the improved Rwanda-DRC relations ‘enormously’ and delighted by the presence of diplomatic missions in Kigali and Kinshasa, adding that the embassies are a sign that the two countries are working towards a lasting solution to regional instability. The envoy who was enroute to Goma and Bujumbura before compiling a report on the security situation in the region also said that EU will continue to support regional initiatives like CEPGL which are all aimed at restoring stability. Ends

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EU committed to supporting regional stability; says envoy