More countries join regional conference preparatory process

Angola, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo have been co-opted into the preparatory process for an international conference for the Great Lakes, joining seven other core countries, the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the region reported on Tuesday. The admission of the three countries was agreed upon at the end of a two-day meeting of national coordinators of the core countries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting had been called to discuss the criteria for membership into the regional conference's preparatory process. In a statement, the office of Ibrahima Fall, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, said the national coordinators also agreed that all the neighbouring states of the core countries were to become co-opted members of the conference. "Angola and Congo took their seats in the hall immediately after their co-option," Fall's office reported. "Today's outcome put to rest the question of criteria for membership into the group of core countries." The conference on the Great Lakes region, proposed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and supported by the African Union (AU), is due to deal with the region's peace, security, democracy and development. The core countries are Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwandan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Any other country outside the region that is interested in the process would be welcome as observers, Fall's office said, adding that Egypt had requested to participate and had been granted observer status. During their meeting, chaired by Fall and AU's Special Envoy Keli Walubita, the national coordinators agreed to "elaborate on the level of participation of the co-opted members but made it clear that they would not form a part of the decision body even though they could influence decisions," Fall's office reported. "One of the outcomes of the meeting was the successful charting and adoption of a road map that will lead to the first heads of state summit to be held in Tanzania in November 2004 and the second my mid-2005," Fall's office said.