NGO officials hold talks on regional conference

A five-day conference for representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Great Lakes region opened on Monday in Arusha, Tanzania, as part of a preparatory process for a UN-African Union (AU) international conference on the region, according to the office of Ibrahima Fall, the Special Representative of UN Secretary-General for the Great Lakes. In a statement, Fall's office reported on Monday that participants would discuss four themes of the UN-AU conference from the perspective of civil society. "They are expected to harmonise their positions and come up with recommendations that will be put up for endorsement by the heads of state of the region when they meet for the first of two summits in Dar es Salaam in November this year," Fall's office reported. The NGOs' conference is one of the three meetings under the framework of the UN-AU International Conference in the Great Lakes region. Another meeting, for the youth in the region, was held in Kampala, Uganda, last week while a women's meeting is planned for Kigali, Rwanda, from 7 to 9 October. The Tanzania-based Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, founded in 1996 to advocate peace, unity and people-centred development, is coordinating the NGOs' meeting. Fall's office said the themes of the international conference on the Great Lakes were peace and security; democracy and governance; economic development and regional integration and humanitarian and social issues. Participants at the NGOs' meeting are drawn from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - the core countries for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed the international conference for peace, security, democracy and development, which is being co-sponsored by the UN and the AU. "Its objective is to find a lasting solution to the multiple and endemic problems facing the region," Fall's office reported.