EALA Speaker reiterates support for Kinshasa-M23 talks

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has reiterated its support for efforts of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to find peaceful and long-lasting solutions to the conflict in eastern DRC, the Speaker Margaret Zziwa, has said. Zziwa was speaking at a news conference in Kigali, yesterday. “We support the Kampala peace process, in terms of resolving the conflict in eastern DRC and which is actually affecting the three partner states of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, in terms of the influx of refugees. We are supporting the mechanisms which the ICGLR leaders put in place when they were in Kampala,” Zziwa said. “In Arusha, last year, the House passed a resolution in support of the ICGLR summit,” she said.In December, a summit of Heads of State and other political leaders from the 11 member states of ICGLR in Kampala, Uganda, demanded the M23 rebels to end their offensive and to withdraw from DR Congo’s eastern city of Goma. The ICGLR set forth a mechanism that, among others, emphasised a political solution, especially through peace talks, to get to the bottom of the conflict in eastern DR Congo. Alleged M23 petition The EALA Speaker refuted claims that the Assembly was officially petitioned by the M23, who are allegedly imploring lawmakers against the UN Security Council’s move, last month, to deploy a new “intervention brigade,” under Monusco’s new mandate, to neutralise and disarm groups in the unstable region. “I have not received any petition to that effect,” Zziwa said, explaining that the EAC Treaty does not mandate her to attend to matters outside the bloc even if the partner states are also members of ICGLR. “The issues of M23 are outside the EAC jurisdiction,” she said, adding that if she ever received such a petition, she would refer holders of the grievances to the ICGLR.

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EALA Speaker reiterates support for Kinshasa-M23 talks