US says greater stake in peace needed

Central Africa, and particularly the Great Lakes region, was a land of “squandered promise and ongoing exploitation,” US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice stated in an address to the Kenyan parliament on Tuesday. “The cycle of genocide in the Great Lakes region continues with impunity,” she said. Lasting peace had eluded Congo, as it had Angola and Sierra Leone, “because governments or rebel groups or both have had a greater stake in war than in peace. This must change, and change quickly” or Africa would remain marginal in the global community, Rice stated.

In that context, the US still believed the Lusaka accords of July 1999 to be “the most viable framework for realising a comprehensive peace in the Congo,” she added. Rice hoped that Washington would sustain the “genuine partnership” with Africa of the Clinton-Gore administration, and remain committed to its two principal policy goals: integrating Africa into the global economy, and combating transnational security threats, she said.