Leaders in the volatile Great Lakes region lack the political will to bring peace to the region, a European Union (EU) envoy said on the second day of the African Union heads of state summit in Maputo on Friday.
”There is no political will in the Great Lakes, with some deliberately promoting hostilities for personal gains,” Aldo Ajello, the EU’s envoy to the region, said in an interview with state-run Radio Mozambique.
Ajello, a former United Nations special envoy to Mozambique, is attending the African Union heads of state summit in the Mozambican
capital Maputo.
He warned that the Great Lakes countries, such as Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), would not be able to attain lasting peace unless all parties desired it.
The civil war in Burundi, pitting the Tutsi-dominated army against Hutu rebels is estimated to have left some 300 000 dead, while fighting in DRC continues in its north-eastern region despite a peace deal signed last year. – Sapa-AFP