Work begins on regional peace and development conference

The official launching of the preparatory process of the International Conference for Peace, Security, Democracy and Development for the Great Lakes region, initiated by the UN and the African Union, will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, on 23 and 24 June, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region announced on Thursday. It said the launch followed "a thorough and comprehensive series of consultations with all stakeholders". The two-day event will constitute the first meeting of the six national focal points appointed by their heads of state from the core countries of the Great Lakes region, namely Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. "This all-inclusive international conference, which is a process, not an event, is an ambitious and wide-ranging project whose objective is to set up a form of Marshall Plan for the Great Lakes region through a stability, democracy and development pact with a comprehensive action-oriented strategy and mechanisms to promote long-term peace and security, democracy and good governance as well as economic development and regional integration for the whole region," said a statement from the Office of the Special Representative. "The essential objective of this first focal point meeting of the core countries of the region is to lay the political framework and determine a programme of work and a plan of action for the preparatory process of the international conference," the statement added. The opening will be co-chaired by Ibrahima Fall, Special Representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the Great Lakes region, and Keli Walubita, Special Envoy of the African Union for the Great Lakes region.