The Hindu : International : African leaders vow to end wars

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 21, 2004

International

International

African leaders vow to end wars

DAR ES SALAAM (TANZANIA), NOV. 20. Fifteen African leaders signed on Saturday a framework agreement that took 10 years to reach, aimed at ending the cycle of war and dictatorship in central Africa, but the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, warned ``the job is far from over.''

U.N. mediation

The United Nations and the African Union organised the two-day summit that began on Friday on central Africa's Great Lakes region hoping that it will mark a watershed for the region where millions die in wars, rebellions and a genocide in the past decade.

``We, the African leaders have agreed to rededicate ourselves for peace and development of our continent,'' said the Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union's current Chairman. ``Never, and never again, shall we allow any despots or any tyranny in our continent.''

It took 10 years to get the heads of all central African countries at the same table, Mr. Annan said.

``It is in the months to come as you strive towards collecting the dividend of peace through a comprehensive security, stability and development pact, that your commitment will meet its greatest test,'' Mr. Annan told the assembled African leaders.

Heads of state attended from Congo, Kenya, Sudan, Burundi, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.

Africa's Great Lakes region — an area bordered by Congo, Rwanda and Burundi — has been unstable since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda in which more than 500,000 people, most of them from the country's Tutsi minority, were slaughtered by a regime of extremists from its Hutu majority.

After Tutsi rebels ended the Rwanda genocide, the extremist Hutus fled into eastern Congo, launching raids on Rwanda and triggering a Rwandan invasion of its much larger neighbour in 1996.

Conflicts continue

Rwanda, along with Uganda and Burundi, again invaded in 1998 to back Congolese rebels, sparking a war that drew in six African nations and killed an estimated 3.3 million people, The conflict ended in June 2003, although sporadic fighting continues in parts of Congo.

Congo's conflict also aggravated the 11-year civil war in Burundi, a conflict that is still simmering. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News Update

Stories in this Section