Conflicting countries within the Great Lakes Region have been called upon to put aside their differences in order to enhance the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.
The call was made by Members of Parliament of the Committee on Peace and Security of the Forum of Parliaments of the International Conference on Great Lakes Region (FP-ICGLR) during the Seventh Statutory meeting of the Committee held virtually via zoom because of the pandemic.
The legislators noted that such conflicts at this time hamper the creation of a harmonised and coordinated approach towards the fight against the pandemic.
The meeting thus called for a coordinated and harmonised approach to fight the pandemic further appealing to the general population to observe preventive measures instituted to curb spread of the disease.
The call comes at a time when a number of countries in the region are at loggerheads with one another such as Uganda and Rwanda as well as Burundi and Rwanda. This is on top of several intra-state conflicts in the region. Cases of COVID-19 infections and deaths are also spiking up in the region.
The meeting accordingly adopted resolutions for handling current and post-covid situations in relation to peace and security.
The Secretary General of the Forum Amb. Onyango Kakoba said that currently the committee meetings of the Forum have been redesigned to tackle issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic as away of contributing to the enhancement of awareness about the disease.
FP-ICGLR is a regional organisation that brings together National Parliaments of the twelve member-states of ICGLR, namely; Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), South Sudan, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda and Burundi.
