Fall discusses regional conference with Belgian foreign minister

Following a meeting with Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Louis Michel in Brussels on Thursday, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative for the Great Lakes region, Ibrahima Fall, told IRIN that the way was now open for the international conference on the area, now that the heads of states of the participating countries had nominated their national coordinators and approved the calendar of activities. Fall is in Europe to inform partners on the evolution of the Great Lakes regional peace and development conference, and to seek their support. However, he said the success of the summit would depend on the favourable evolution of the political transition in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and on an inclusive agreement being reached among all belligerents in Burundi. He also said the conference would focus on the primary themes of security, democracy and governance, regional development and humanitarian issues. He described the conference as "action oriented", and said it should be seen as a process. "The target of the conference is to reach priority actions in the framework of the four themes," he added. Countries due to participate in the conference as full members are Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Others will participate as "active observers", including neighbouring countries such as Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, as well as bilateral and multilateral development partners, Fall said. The UN and the AU are the two partners of the conference. National coordinators will serve as the contact points between Fall's office and national authorities. The coordinators will lead national preparatory committees, whose members will be nominated by national authorities. Although the committees will be interministerial, they could include civil society and NGOs. With regard to financing the conference, Fall said the UN had opened a donors' fund for preparatory activities such as meetings and action-oriented studies, and for implementation of programmes after the conference. He said that Belgium and Switzerland had already made pledges to support the conference. The first summit of state leaders to prepare for the conference is due to take place in June 2004.