KENYA: African leaders sign agreements on security, governance and economic development in the continent's troubled Great Lakes region

Six African leaders signed a peace and development pact in Kenya on Friday (December 15), aiming to build on growing signs of stability in one of the world's most volatile regions. Landmark polls in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the election of a post-civil war government in Burundi and economic growth and reconstruction in Rwanda have raised hopes in Africa's Great Lakes nations. Despite the democratic gains, the leaders at the meeting have cautioned there is much to be done to safeguard peace and stability in the region, which has been mired in conflict, poverty and ethnic tensions since Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Friday's pact included a $225 million security action plan to disarm a host of rebel groups -- mostly in the lawless jungles of eastern DRC -- and rampaging nomadic warriors on the arid borders of Sudan, Kenya and Uganda. The leaders also signed up to a long list of governance, humanitarian and economic programmes, and a non-aggression and mutual defence protocol that reaffirmed their "strict obligation" not to let their territory be used by insurgents. "I call upon all the leaders of the Great Lakes Region to show courage and implement the letter and the spirit of this protocol," Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki told the delegates who were gathered in Nairobi for the meeting. Also attending the meeting were the presidents of Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Zambia, and the prime minister of Rwanda, along with senior United Nations and African Union officials. Government officials signed on behalf of the leaders of Angola, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and Sudan.

ITN Source | December 16, 2006

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