Regional Heads of State have given the Military Assessment Team two more weeks to come up with a conclusive report on the military strength of negative forces operating in DRC.This was one of the resolutions from the fourth International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Heads of State Summit on the Congo crisis, held in Kampala on Monday.The meeting, which was chaired by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, was also attended by President Paul Kagame, among other regional leaders.The team is expected to give their conclusive report to the Chiefs of Defence Staff later this month before it is forwarded to Defence Ministers.The team is tasked with assessing the strength, composition, weaponry requirement and areas of deployment for the neutral international force.“We are giving them more time because of the nature of the area they have to cover,” Henry Oryem, Uganda’s State Minister for International Relations, told the media Monday night at the conclusion of the summit.“We don’t need half-baked work if we are to get results from that mission,” he said.The Heads of State were told that the team has already developed a draft strategic concept of operations for the neutral international force, which includes the mission’s requirement and organisation.Oryem noted that there were ongoing efforts to urge countries to contribute the 4,000 troops needed by mid December this year.The regional Heads of State were meeting for the fourth time in a few months as they seek to come up with solutions to the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC.The conflict deepened after a group of soldiers from the DRC armed forces staged a mutiny over allegations that the government had not fulfilled a prior agreement it signed with a former rebel group in 2009.The agreement had been brokered by former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Benjamin Mkapa of Nigeria and Tanzania, respectively.
