Religious group prepares for regional conference

A group of religious organisations from the Great Lakes region began on Monday a two-day workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, to draft a position paper, ahead of an international conference planned by the UN and the African Union (AU) on the region. Participants at the workshop, convened by the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa regions (FECCLAHA), are due to develop a common position on issues pertaining to conflict in the Great Lakes. Delegates are from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. Representatives of the UN, AU and Christian Aid are also attending the workshop. Conflict in the Great Lakes region must be solved within a "regional framework," FECCLAHA said. The framework includes social organisations, religious groups, business representatives, and youth and women’s representation. FECCLAHA said the Church's input in the various themes of the international conference was crucial. In a speech detailing the purpose and background of the international conference, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the Great Lakes Region, Ibrahima Fall, told the delegates: "Religious organisations play a social role. They share with politicians some common goals, for instance, achieving peaces, justice, solidarity, promotion, the defence of human rights and the improvement of living conditions for the general population." The facilitators of the international conference, the UN and the AU, conceived it as a process towards regional stability. FECCLAHA said the presence of religious groups was an attempt to make the process as "inclusive as possible" by including "representatives from society, neighbouring countries, allies of the region as well as the international community". Abdel-Rahman Ghandour, the special assistant to Fall, said members of the civil society in the region were also coming together in preparation for the conference. Among these is Amani Forum, a "parliamentary association promoting peace through the abilities of parliament," he said. He added that when the conference was concluded, the parliamentary committees of the participating countries would have an essential role to play in the implementation of decisions that would have been made. The concept of an international conference on peace, security, and development in the Great Lakes region was brought to the attention of the UN Security Council following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, FECCLAHA said. It added that the conference was intended to "bring together the leaders of the countries in the Great Lakes region to reach an agreement on a set of principals and to launch programmes of action to end the cycle of conflict and violence; and ensure durable peace, stability, security, democracy, and development in the whole region."