In the speeches delivered respectively by Mr. Xuang Xia, the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations for the Great Lakes Region, Mr. Valentin Zellweger, Ambassador of Switzerland to Burundi with residence in Nairobi, Mr. Chasper Sarott, Ambassador of Switzerland in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr. Tatiana Carayannis, Director of the Forum on Peace and Conflict Prevention, they all returned to the point of dynamics in matters of peace, security and economy in the region, particularly in regarding the cross-border implications, the development of a shared analysis identifying entry the points for the concerted support to the ongoing political and peace processes, with an emphasis on the joint initiatives and the common messages that could contribute to the resolution of the current crisis in the Great Lakes region especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan etc.
In turn, His Excellency Ambassador Albert SHINGIRO, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation noted that the fact that Burundi hosts that retreat testifies to the confidence placed in Burundi and its Government, under the leadership of His Excellency Evariste Ndayishimiye , President of the Republic of Burundi, and President of the Regional Mechanism for Monitoring the implementation of the Framework Agreement for Peace, Security and Cooperation for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Region, to contribute significantly to the effective implementation of that Agreement which still remains relevant more than ten years after its signature.
Minister Albert Shingiro pointed out that despite the laudable efforts made and the good initiatives undertaken by or thanks to those organizations, the major challenges persist in the sub-region. Those include, among other things, the challenges linked to the recurring conflicts in the East of the DRC, the increased presence of the local and the foreign armed groups which threaten peace in the region, the management of the natural resources which fuel conflicts and external greed, the bad governance which continues to put a brake on the progress to which the people of the region aspire, the fight against poverty and youth unemployment, the lack of integrative infrastructural projects capable of contributing to the sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development of the region, the deficit in judicial cooperation, the interference in the internal affairs of other States, the non-respect of the principle of the territorial integrity at times as well as the humanitarian situation which is one of the most worrying of our time. Minister Albert Shingiro also said that the Great Lakes Region, of which Burundi is a part, is a region endowed with the abundant natural and the human resources, a strategic region for Africa and for the world, faced with many difficulties linked to the peace and development whose causes go back decades or even to the pre-colonial and colonial period and still persist, hence the need for the combined and united efforts of all the stakeholders to meet the challenge of peace, security, stability, cooperation and development in the DRC and the region. He thus called on the stakeholders of the Great Lakes Region to draw more inspiration from the visions, strategies and programs freely adopted in Africa and in the Region in order to contribute effectively and significantly to peace and development in the region, taking into account the political, social and economic realities specific to each country, to sow seeds of peace and development, which will place them on the right side of history.
On Monday March 4, 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation His Excellency Ambassador Albert Shingiro opened the 6th retreat of the Great Lakes stakeholders and the experts organized by Switzerland, the Office of the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region in collaboration with the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum (CPPF), in Bujumbura.
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