African scholars in Kigali to discuss regional conflicts

POLICY analysts, scholars and researchers from Africa and beyond are converging in Kigali today to explore and understand the root causes and possible solutions to the persistent conflicts in the Great Lakes Region and their effect on governance.The two-day high event that is organised by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) is held under theme, “Governance and Security in Africa: Assessing the Imperatives of Peace and Stability in the Great Lakes Region.”Addressing a news conference yesterday, Prof. Anastase Shyaka, Chief Executive Officer of RGB said the event will provide a platform to find a solution to ongoing insecurities in the region.“The high level policy dialogue is of an academic nature seeking to find scholarly solutions to the challenges of regional insecurity and instability. We hope to come up with alternative approaches to pacifying the region, not to succeed the ongoing political, diplomatic and military efforts, but to supplement them,” he explained. Shyaka observed that, inter-state diplomatic dialogue, joint military operations, intervention of regional bodies and international peace keeping missions have not yielded sustainable solutions to the conflicts in the Great Lakes region. The forum brings together eminent academics, researchers, political leaders, representatives of international organisations, university students and youth community representatives and the media among others.The region continues to face persistence of conflicts mainly in the eastern DRCRwanda has been at the receiving end of repercussions resulting from the conflict and instability that has plagued the eastern DRC. “Regional member states have not been in total agreement as to how the insecurity threat should be tackled. Failure to fully understand the nature of the challenge makes it impossible to come up with workable remedies,” he stressed.Shyaka added: “Over the last twenty years several efforts have been made using varied approaches, still lasting peace is not about to be realised. The Conference is not intended as an end in itself but rather an opportune moment to come up with the new shared generated ideas and knowledge to find a lasting solution to the conflicts in the region.”The forum will examine the possibility of pursuing the fundamental solutions to the regional conflicts in the face of a worsening insecurity and instability in the Great Lakes region.

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African scholars in Kigali to discuss regional conflicts