ICGLR calls for action against armed groups

The new Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Prof. Lumu Alphonse Ntumba Luaba, has reiterated the need eliminate armed militia if the region is to rid itself of sexual atrocities. Addressing an ICGLR planning meeting in Kampala, yesterday, Luaba also expressed hope that the envisaged Regional Centre for Intelligence, to be set up in Goma, DRC, will help end atrocities committed by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia.“There is no Great Lakes region in peace without women in peace and this means that they should not be used as tools for those aspiring for power,” Luaba said. The FDLR has roamed the Congolese jungles for nearly 20 years now where they have executed thousands, raped women and girls and continue to commit all sorts of human rights abuses.Luaba called for closer cooperation among national judicial authorities to come up with a strong legal framework that will control trans-boundary movement of negative forces.The Secretary General of the ICGLR Parliamentary Forum, Prosper Higiro, said countries should emulate best practices around the world and come up with a clear and well funded legal and institutional framework.“We must have laws that combat sexual and gender based violence, and institutions must be there to properly implement those laws,” said Higiro, who is the immediate former vice president of the Rwandan Senate. Immaculate Ingabire, the Coordinator of Rwanda’s National Coalition on Fighting Violence against women, said that ending sexual and gender based violence is all about making sure there is political will and commitment at national levels. “We all have different laws and policies, so emphasis should be put on political will because even if the laws were there, they might not be implemented,” she said.The meeting comprises coordinators from 11 ICGLR member states whose aim is to plan for the implementation of the Kampala Declaration on the fight against sexual and gender based violence that was agreed on during ICGLR Ordinary Summit in Kampala last year.