• PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu  (right) being welcomed by his Congo Brazzaville counterpart Denis Sassou Nguesso at the Presidential Hall in Brazzaville yesterday. Picture by SALIM HENRY/STATE HOUSE

THE United Nations has called for vigorous action to neutralise the continued threats posed by negative forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Great Lakes Region.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has also encouraged armed forces in the DRC to step up their operations in collaboration with other stakeholders against armed groups still active in the country.
“I see four priority areas for our collective efforts. First vigorous action is needed to neutralise the continued threats posed by negative forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region as a whole,” Mr Guterres said.
Addressing the 7th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Brazaville, Republic of Congo yesterday, Mr Guterres in a speech read for him by Special UN Envoy to the Great Lakes Region Said Djiniti said the UN continued offering support to protect civilians in the Congo from all armed groups still active in the DRC.
He said the UN continued to adjust configuration and operations to more effectively contribute to neutralise the threat of armed groups and protect civilians.
Mr Guterres also said respective governments and security forces should corporate closely and continue addressing activities of armed groups that affected security and stability along border areas in the region.

The UN envoy said there was need to create a conducive environment for holding peaceful elections in line with the agreement.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who handed over the ICGLR chairmanship to Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, said he was concerned that the presence of negative forces in the east of the DRC was wrecking havoc.
Mr Lourenco condemned what he termed cowardly attacks in on October 9 in the DRC on key infrastructure which led to the death of two Tanzanian soldiers.
Meanwhile the ICGLR has applauded the key role that the Levy Mwanawasa Regional Centre for Democracy and Good Governance in Zambia is playing in offering guidance and research on peace and security in the region.
ICGLR executive secretary Zachary Muburi-Muita said the centre which was the organisation’s decentralised unit had provided critical
research to the secretariat in areas of security, stability and development in the past 10 years of the existence of the ICGLR.
The summit which attracted eight of the 12 heads of state and government from the ICGLR was themed “Fast-Tracking the Implementation
of the Pact to Ensure Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region.”
President Edgar Lungu was among the heads of state in attendance and was flanked by minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Kalaba and Zambia’s Ambassador to the DRC, Friday Nyambe.
Other heads of state who attended are Rwandan president Paul Kagame, DRC President Joseph Kabila and Central African Republic President Faustin Touadera among others.
The one day summit was preceded by various meetings including the Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee (RIMC) meeting comprising Ministers of Foreign Affairs who met from 15th to 16th October to prepare the agenda for the Summit of the Heads of State and Government.
Foreign Affairs minister Harry Kalaba said Zambia’s participation in the summit was key because of its role in hosting about 5,000 refugees fleeing the conflicts in the DRC in the past few months. – ZNBC