nngu007
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 2, 2010
- 15,862
- 5,797
Tanzania |Published On: Fri, Dec 16th, 2011
President Jakaya Kikwete, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki (C) & Zambian President Michael Sata attend Great Lakes Region summit in the Ugandan capital Kampala yesterday.
President Jakaya Kikwete left for Kampala, Uganda, yesterday where he is attending the annual International Conference of Heads of State (ICGLR).
The two-day meeting will consist of a special session on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, which was scheduled for discussion since last year's meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia.
It has been explained that sexual and gender-based forms of violence were escalating in the Great Lakes region. The Kampala conference would give the heads of state an opportunity to discuss a report prepared by Defence ministers in the region regarding forces that have continued to disturb the stability and security of the region.
According to a report issued by ICGLR executive secretary Ambassador Liberata Mulamula, the heads of states would also discuss a request by South Sudan to join the group.
Furthermore, President Kikwete and his fellow heads of state would receive reports on the progress of implementation of resolutions reached last year in the Lusaka meeting, particularly on the efforts by the ICGLR member states to fight illegal exploitation of natural resources from member states.
The Kampala meeting will also appoint a new ICGLR secretary general who would take over from Mulamula, who hails from Tanzania and whose tenure was extended by one year at last year's meeting in order to give member countries time to find and propose names for the position.
So far there are three names which have been put forward, including Prof Lumu Alphonse Ntumba Luaba from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ambassador Philip Richard Okanda Owade from Kenya and Dr Mohammed Abdelghaffar from Sudan.
Source The Guardian
