President Jakaya Kikwete appeals to international community on DRC

By The guardian reporter - 26th September 2013

IPPMedia

President Jakaya Kikwete has called upon the international community to do all it can to end political conflicts and civil wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He said ending the political conflicts and wars in the DRC will help the Congolese to live in peace and embark on development activities for their nation.

“ They have a right to peace and rest from such wars and conflicts,” the President told the second meeting for head of States that signed a cooperation agreement for peace for DRC under the United Nations that convened in New York on Monday.

Kikwete noted that the peace seeking mission in the troubled DRC is going on well and that the secret behind the success in DRC was to ensure that what was agreed upon during the first conference on DRC is implemented.

“The secret behind finding a solution to DRC is by ensuring that each and everyone of us is doing what we agreed upon during the first meeting. The measures that we have taken so far in DRC are a good development as far as the peace seeking mission is concerned. It is important that we find a solution for DRC.

People have suffered for long there. They have a right to live peacefully and they have a right to carry on development activities instead of always thinking about war,” Kikwete told the Monday conference under UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

The first sitting for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 24, 2013. Leaders for ICGLR and others who signed the peace seeking deal for DRC attended the meeting.

Apart from Tanzania’s President, other leaders who were in attendance at the New York conference include, Malawi’s Joyce Banda – Southern Africa Development Community SADA) Chairperson, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, DRC’s Joseph Kabila, South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni who is the chairman for ICGLR, African Union Commission Chairman, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon. Also in attendance were vice presidents and representative from Congo Brazzaville, Zambia, Angola and South Sudan.

Most leaders insisted that there was no true peace in DRC. Great Lakes Regions agreed to speak and agree with different groups that were involved in the fighting.