Summary- 10 countries from the Great Lakes region of Africa are sending parliament members to Nairobi for talks about conflict resolution and peace. The international Conference of the Great Lakes Region or ICGLR has 12 members, two of which will not be attending. This is because Sudan has no sitting parliament, and Uganda is mourning Speaker Jacob Oulanya. Members of parliament have said they plan to keep peace and prosperity in the region and promote conflict resolution.
analysis – this is important because several ICGLR countries have been faced with conflict in recent times. Uganda, the DRC, and Sudan notably have been experiencing conflicts. Research has shown most of this to be because of weak democracy and governing. This conference, focused on resolution of conflict and security, is a step in the right direction for strengthening governments and diplomatic relations.
This relates to IR because the study and research of conflict is a big part of preventing it, and in countries riddled with conflict it is especially important to find the causes and resolve them. This is what this conference is working to do and it is interesting to observe how countries with recent past conflicts go about resolving them. These countries relations are important as some consider it a shatterbelt region.