COOPERATION

7 Aug 2012

COOPERATION

UNOCA - ICGLR: together for peace in Central Africa and the Great Lakes Region

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Mr. Abou Moussa, and the Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Mr. Daniel Alphonse Ntumba Luaba Lumu, on 6 August signed, in Kampala (Uganda), a framework of cooperation in the fields of peace, security, prevention and conflict resolution.

The signing took place during the extraordinary Meeting of Ministers of the ICGLR devoted to "the security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo".

The cooperation between UNOCA and ICGLR will focus particularly on cross-cutting issues, including support to mediation, governance and security policy, and the promotion of women in the prevention and management of conflicts.

The two organizations will also work together to help promote stability in the two sub-regions that is essential for "sustainable development of countries of the Central Africa sub-region and the Great Lakes Region", the two geographical areas where UNOCA and ICGLR operate.

Most of the eleven member countries of the ICGLR also belong to the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) covered by UNOCA or to the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa (UNSAC) where UNOCA serves as the Secretariat.

Apart from Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia, the rest of the member States of ICGLR indeed have working relationship with the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda (UNSAC).

"Cooperation with ICGLR is not only logical but also necessary. It highlights the determination of the United Nations to support regional and sub-regional organizations in their efforts to find solutions to the challenges that threaten international peace", noted the Special Representative of UN Secretary-General for Central Africa, Mr. Abou Moussa.

It is in the same spirit that UNOCA signed a similar framework of cooperation with ECCAS on 3 May 2012 in Libreville (Gabon).