South Sudan to be admitted to Great Lakes Region organization in December

South Sudan to be admitted to Great Lakes Region organization in December
The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) is to formally admit South Sudan as its 12th member state in the organization's forthcoming meeting to be held in the Ugandan capital Kampala next month.

Rhoda Kaisho, senior Ugandan foreign ministry official told reporters here that during the two-day summit scheduled for Dec. 15-16, South Sudan, Africa's newest independent state will be admitted in the regional body that provides a mechanism for peace, security, stability and development.

Nathan Byamukama, ICGLR program officer cross cutting issues said the admission of South Sudan will help in ending endemic conflicts and insecurity in the region.

"We expect ICGLR to have its 12th member state. South Sudan has applied to join ICGLR. During the summit, the new state will be formally admitted to the organization," he said.

"If South Sudan is admitted, ICGLR will help in the mediation to end the conflict between South Sudan and Sudan," he added.

The summit is expected to attract 11 heads of state from Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia to discuss the challenge of sexual gender based violence in the region.

South Sudan became an independent state from Sudan after the referendum on July 9 this year.

It is also applying to join the East African Community (EAC), a regional bloc bringing together five countries, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

The African Union (AU) in August formally admitted South Sudan as the 54th member state.

Editor: yan

English.news.cn   2011-11-17 05:59:35 FeedbackPrintRSS
KAMPALA, Nov. 16 (Xinhua)