South Sudan to host Great Lakes Region summit

JUBA, MARCH 29, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – A South Sudan lawmaker on Tuesday revealed that preparations have been completed by the government to host the summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.

The conference – the first time to be hosted in South Sudan – will take place from 31^st March to 4^th April 2023 in Juba under the theme “Parliamentary Diplomacy for Conflict Resolution in The Great Lakes Region.”

It will be attended by 11 speakers from Great Lakes Region with President Salva Kiir Mayardit being the chief guest.

Hon. John Agany Deng, the spokesperson of the National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), said the secretariat of Great Lakes which arrived in the country on 22^nd March has already completed their work and the speakers are expected to arrive in Juba on Thursday.

“It (preparations) started since 22^nd March, the secretariat of Great Lakes Region [also] arrived here on 22^nd of this month, they are still here, and they have finished their secretarial work,” the lawmaker told Sudans Post in an interview on Tuesday.

He said the speaker of Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, and Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and among others will participate in the summit as the core members of the Great Lakes Region.

“The speakers will begin to arrive on the 30^th of this month and after that, they will have an opening session and on the same day they will go for their conference which in fact will disclose the items they need to discuss in the Great Lakes Region,” he said.

Agany said the forum will hold discussions around critical issues such as politics and the performance of assemblies of the Lakes Region.

“There are some topics which are not yet revealed to be discussed but in fact, I think it is around political issues and performance of the assemblies and African issues will be to be discussed,” he said.

In April 2022, the Great Lakes Region in their session in Nairobi endorsed South Sudan to host a plenary assembly this year.