Lusaka, 15 December 2010 - The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Asha Rose Migiro, has said that regional stability depends on sound mechanisms, which are a prerequisite for peace consolidation and sustainable development. Ms Migiro was addressing a one-day summit of Heads of State of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, ICGLR in Lusaka.

"The UN family," she told the leaders, "is with you in your quest for peace and security. We are ready to work with you, hand-in-hand, to reduce poverty, to create markets, to promote employment and to achieve the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals."

One of the key decisions taken at the summit is a mandatory certificate that each mine operator will have to produce at the mining site.

Recent reports from UN experts and NGOs highlighted the fact that income generated from the illegal exploitation of some mines served to fund armed groups which were behind atrocities committed against civilian populations, particularly in the DRC' Kivu regions.

In her address, the Executive Secretary of the ICGLR, Ms. Liberata Mulamula said "women should be the first beneficiaries of the struggle against the illicit exploitation of natural resources in the Great Lakes Region."

For his part, Congolese President, Joseph Kabila, said that decisions agreed upon must be followed by actions. "Defining the means of our common struggle against illicit mining is one thing; keeping the momentum for the implementation of these measures is another," said the President, while soliciting the contribution of ICGLR member states and its partners.

The representatives of the United States, the European Union, Japan and the African Union assured the member states of their support for the process. The United States has already pledged a ten million dollar grant to the ICGLR
The UN Mission for Stabilization in DR Congo (MONUSCO) recently completed the construction of four trade centers in Eastern DRC, where minerals are extracted. According to Roger Meece, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the DRC, "these centers will help trace the origins of minerals in the region."

Members of the ICGLR are Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Georges Kamudjova/MONUSCO