Meeting of the Ministers of the signatory countries of the Framework Agreement for Peace and Cooperation for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Region.

On thursday may 04, 2023, Bujumbura, the economic capital of Burundi, hosted the Council of Ministers of the signatory countries of the Framework Agreement for Peace and Cooperation for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Region, signed in Addis Ababa 10 years ago. This council was held as a prelude to the 11^th  Summit of the Monitoring Mechanism of the Framework Agreement for peace, security and cooperation for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Region, of Heads of State and Government in the presence of partners  lead by the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations for the Great Lakes region Mr. Huang Xia.

At the opening of that Council of Ministers of the signatory countries of the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement, all the speakers, those the executive Secretaries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mr. Elias Magos, of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (CIRGL) Joao Samuel Caholo and the High Representative of the African Union in the Great Lakes Region have converged on the need to revitalize these agreements so that the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Region recover the peace.

The Special Envoy is delighted that the Region has mobilized to ease tensions and find solutions to the multiple military and humanitarian challenges, added Huang Xia, United Nations Representative in the Great Lakes region. He also welcomed the strengthening of coordination between the Luanda and Nairobi processes to continue the efforts of consultation and coordination of security mechanisms in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to ensure the objective of eliminating the armed groups and returning the displaced populations.

In his speech for the occasion, the Burundian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation His Excellency Ambassador Albert SHINGIRO indicated that the presence of any participant is an eloquent testimony to the attachment to peace, stability and coordination in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Region, a shared will of the States of the sub-region to contribute to the solutions of the problems which undermine the peace and the socio-economic development of the sub-region. According to the Minister, the meetings of this Council of Ministers would make it possible to assess the progress already made, review the difficulties encountered, the challenges to be overcome and future projections by defining the concrete actions in the short and long term to the well-being of the peoples of the sub-region.

According to him, the success of peace in the sub-region requires attacking the root causes that feed these conflicts and the growing extremism that finds its roots in exclusion, inequalities, poverty and unemployment, the crisis in governance, the illegal exploitation and illicit trade in natural resources.

Minister SHINGIRO urged the parties in conflict in Sudan to cease hostilities, guaranteeing the humanitarian access and starting the frank and sincere dialogue to save the lives of peaceful citizens. As the new leader of the Council of Ministers signatories to these Agreements, Albert SHINGIRO advocates cheaper preventive diplomacy to the detriment of playing firefighters to iron out disputes and to reduce the risk of war before they start.

This Council of Ministers was preceded by a two-day meeting of the Technical Support Committee preparatory to the meeting of the Regional Control Mechanism (ROM), which was held behind the closed doors.