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Hon. Bernard K. Membe, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation giving country's position during the joint SADC/ICGLR Ministerial Meeting held in Luanda, Angola July 2, 2014. Left to the Minister is the Tanzanian Army Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Samuel Ndomba. |
SADC/ICGLR MINISTERIAL MEETING PRESS RELEASE
The second joint ministerial meeting of the Southern Africa Development
Cooperation (SADC) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
(ICGLR) countries was concluded in Luanda July 2, 2014 with concrete steps to
finding sustainable peace in the region.
The well attended meeting by all country members
represented by foreign and defence ministers deliberated heavily on a single
agenda of voluntarily disarmament of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation
of Rwanda (FDLR).
Hon. Bernard Membe, Minister for Foreign Affairs and
International Cooperation, led the Tanzania delegation whereby the Tanzania
Defence Minister was represented by the Tanzanian Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Samuel
Ndomba.
FDLR a politico-military organization whose
combatants are exclusively freedom fighters originally from Rwanda settled in
DRC, wrote an appeal letter to SADC secretariat expressing their readiness to
surrender and hand over their weaponry to African relevant authorities. The
letter also requested assistance from the organ to oversee the process of Disarm,
Demobilize, Repatriate, Resettle and Re-integrate (DDRRR) in accordance to the
directives of other neighbouring countries including Tanzania.
Apart from accepting the said letter, SADC
member states welcomed the FDLR willingly surrender and adherence to the DDRRR
process. They however strongly suggested other stakeholders such as AU, UN and ICGLR
to oversee the process while Rwanda and DRC were urged to take part in the
process.
In a joint session, delegates discussed the
provisional six-month time frame given to the FDLR to complete the DDRRR
process as proposed by the technical experts meeting prior to ministerial
meeting. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) supported by majority countries
including Tanzania insisted that the allocated timeframe was right while Rwanda
claimed the past experiences proved 3 months to be enough.
However the chair and the host of the said meeting, Angola,
ruled out for the six months proposal but should be revised by the third month
to gauge progress.
It is the expectation of all countries in
attendance that the DDRRR process is implemented within the given time frame
with full engagement of both DRC and Rwanda.
The ICGLR/SADC member countries also urged international community
and neighbouring countries to join hands with DRC and Rwanda in this historical
peace - making process.
The third meeting of this nature is expected to take place
within the next three months.
Government
Communication Unit;
Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dar es Salaam
03rd July, 2014