ICGLR sends election observers

THE International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) has deployed an election observation team to observe the presidential elections scheduled for tomorrow. This follows invitations from the Rwandan electoral authorities to send an Election Observation Mission to Rwanda. The mission, comprising of members from the ICGLR Executive Secretariat and Member States, will be led by H.E. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, former President of Burundi. Addressing members of the press yesterday at Rwanda Media High Council, Ambassador Liberata Mulamula, Executive Secretary of the ICGLR, said that Election Observation Missions are an important instrument for building confidence in the democratic processes of a country. She added that they are deployed in line with the ICGLR Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region. “We are here to observe the elections because we have the mandate from our Heads of State that we should be observing elections in our countries rather than waiting for outsiders to come observe and give us a report,” she said. Ambassador Mulamula added that they are going to dispatch a team of observers to all the provinces countywide and then they will issue a report which will be submitted to the Rwandan government authorities and to the Heads of State of ICGRL member countries. “The Mission will accompany the process until the official proclamation of results. In addition, they will liaise with the country’s national electoral authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all key players in the election process, including national and international observers,” Mulamura told reporters. She stressed that during the last Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Lusaka in August 2009, the ICGLR Member States reaffirmed their wish to have the ICGLR concentrate on the observation of presidential elections in all its Member States. Mulamura underscored that the mission is in Rwanda to make sure that elections are peaceful and to help where they can and to make sure that they are free and fair. “This is a commitment of the Heads of State of COMESA and ICGLR member countries, they committed themselves to the rule of law, good governance and democratic processes,” she noted. “We are here to see how Rwanda has met this commitment and where it can be assisted. I know there are a lot of challenges which can also help other countries that will soon be holding elections”. ICGRL is a regional body concerned with peace, security and stability and development among the member states as well as the states immediately bordering the region. It is composed of eleven countries; Angola, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan and Zambia. Other countries which they call “co-opted countries as friends to the ICGLR” include Botswana, Ethiopia, Egypt, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Ends