Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has called for an end to the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr Musyoka said Kenya was concerned that if the hostilities persist, the ensuing humanitarian crisis would be unmanageable.

The VP was speaking during the Great Lakes Summit in Kampala, Uganda where he is representing President Kibaki.

The Summit received a report from regional Defence ministers on how to deal with the conflict in Eastern DRC.

It recommends far reaching measures including the immediate cessation of hostilities, the establishment of a 4,000 strong international neutral force to eliminate armed groups operating in Kivu province among them M23 and the expansion of the Joint Verification Mechanism.

The force will comprise of soldiers from African countries and will be supported by the African Union and the United Nations.

Also present were Presidents Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Salva Kiir (Sudan), Joseph Kabila (DRC) and the host Yoweri Museveni as well as the vice presidents of Burundi and Zambia.

The summit heard that so far the conflict had displaced over two million people with 262,000 residents of south Kivu alone fleeing their homes.

Some 170,000 people have crossed the border to Rwanda and Uganda.
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The ministers recommended the expansion of the joint Verification Mechanism to include border controls and patrols.

The summit was also told that the Joint Intelligence Fusion Centre, established to collect and analyse intelligence reports on negative forces operating in the region was already active and requires support from all member states.

The Joint Verification Mechanism is set to be launched in Goma in two weeks.

President Museveni, who is the chairman, implored the summit to adopt the recommendations and support full implementation because the humanitarian crisis in Eastern DRC was worsening each day.

President Kikwete said the region should be on the forefront of seeking solutions and outside help should be viewed as a boost.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon announced that he will host a High Level Meting of Heads of the State and Government from the Great Lakes region on the conflict on September 27 in New York at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Mr Musyoka is accompanied by Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka and Kenya’s High Commissioner to Uganda Major General (rtd) Geoffrey Okanga.


VPPS
KAMBALA
8TH SEPTEMBER, 2012