Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) citizens in Lusaka, Zambia welcome their President, Joseph Kabila to a Great Lakes summit on Tuesday December 14, 2010. Photo/ELIAS MBAO
The Great Lakes bloc has backed efforts to apprehend and remove Uganda’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA) rebel leader Joseph Kony and his commanders from the battle field, said the grouping’s chair on Wednesday.
Addressing the ICGLR summit in Lusaka, Zambian President Rupiah Banda, who chairs the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), said the regional bloc supported the US government’s four-point strategy to protect civilians and capture Mr Kony, promote defection, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of the remaining LRA fighters.
"Such an initiative is bound to contribute to the halting of bloodshed and the protection of civilian populations in the Great Lakes and bring the leaders of negative forces to justice,” said President Banda at a one-day conference attended by five other Presidents, US deputy assistant secretary of state Susan Page, UN deputy secretary general Asha-Rose Migiro and AU deputy chairperson among other African leaders.
Mr Kony, 49, who is facing an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, has been fighting the Uganda government for about two and half decades.US President Obama in May 2009 signed into law the LRA disarmament and northern Uganda recovery Act.
Lasting solution
At the summit, President Banda said the Lusaka meeting would find a lasting solution to the instability, mainly caused by illegal exploitation of natural resources, which characterised the Great Lakes region for decades.
The ICGLR brings together 11 African countries: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
He said illegal exploitation and trade in natural resources have been linked to causing conflicts, financing rebellions against established governments, illegal trafficking, criminal networks and widespread evasion of taxes.
"Therefore, we call upon the international community to help us fight illegal exploitation of natural resources," said President Banda.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila told the summit that the region must be rid of the illegal exploitation and trade in natural resources, especially minerals.
Ramifications
Illegal exploitation of natural resources has ramifications that go beyond country’s boundaries, said President Kabila and urged ICGLR member countries and the international community to fight the scourge.
AU deputy chairperson Erastus Mwencha said despite Africa being blessed with rich natural resource its people were “very poor” partly due to illegal exploitation of the resources.
"In some parts of the continent natural resources are seen as a curse rather than a blessing”, said Mr Mwencha, adding that the situation could not be let to continue that way.
The delegates cited DRC as one of the many countries in the Great Lakes Region where illegal exploitation of natural resources caused wars.
The UN, AU, Japan and other cooperating partners assured their continued support to the ICGLR to combat illegal exploitation of natural resources.
