Envoy upbeat about prospects for prosperity in Great Lakes region
Posted by africanpress on April 20, 2008
Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no source.apa
The international conference on the Great Lakes Region has initiated new strategies on the peace process which would ensure economic prosperity in the region, said the conference executive secretary, Ambassador Liberata Mulamula, shortly after she opened a regional conference on understanding obstacles to peace in the region.
Ambassador Mulamula said on Saturday in Dar es Salaam that the region was doing well, save for a few countries which she said were still dogged by conflicts.
“The Great Lakes region has a lot of untapped potentials which needs committed people to develop it, otherwise we will remain behind for ever,” she warned.
She said lack of peace was one of the main reasons which retarded development in many countries and the conference would like to reverse the situation through peace agreements between political leaders.
Ambassador Mulamula urged researchers to continue proposing improved ways of overcoming conflicts in the region.
“Researchers play a great role in the fight against conflicts in the region as no investment could be made without peace,” she insisted.
For her part, the Canadian High Commissioner to Tanzania Janet Siddall said her country has been supporting the peace process in the region in order to bring social and economic development.
She said the Canadian government was ready to support the peace process in countries which had shown interest to do so.
Speaking earlier, the executive director of Concern for Development Initiatives in Africa (ForDIA) Bubelwa Kaiza said the conference was a result of a two-year research which was done by some researchers from the University of Dar es Salaam, the Great Lakes Peace and Security Network (PeSeNet), and ForDIA in six Great Lakes countries to look into sources of conflicts.
He said participants would discuss findings of the research and propose the best ways to reconcile or solve those conflicts which retard development in the countries.
The Great Lakes region has in recent years experienced political strife, armed conflict and population displacements with severe humanitarian consequences.
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