Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo said regional countries can only survive current security and other challenges if they put their efforts together.
She made the remarks while addressing 30 delegates from seven regional countries attending the 4th Regional Military and Security Roundtable for the East and Horn of Africa in Kigali.
Mushikiwabo told participants that the path of Regional cooperation and Integration is a noble choice.
“Our nations have not survived individually before; look at slave trade, colonization and individually they won’t survive the wrath of terrorism, neocolonialism, the negative part of globalization and hence the need for collective action,” She said.
“Regional Integration and Cooperation reduce mutual suspicion between States, thus creating good neighborliness and freeing resources that can be used for development and meeting human security needs, “ she observed.
The conference taking place in Musanze district is jointly organized by Rwanda Peace Academy, The Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) and the Bradford University in the United Kingdom.
It aims at promoting peace and security by deepening the understanding of the role of the military and other security agencies in the evolving peace and security in the region.
Security officers discussed security challenges in the region and the role of Military and other Security Agencies in resolving conflict.
They also tackled the regional integration and organisations as mechanism of promoting peace and security. Among other subjects discussed included also combatting terrorism threats in the region.
“The outcomes of the roundtable will be put in a book that will be utilized by Policy makers and Military Institutions in the region,” said Brig Gen Joseph Nzabamwita, the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Spokesperson.
The composition of this roundtable reflects to the Summit of the African Union Peace and Security Council in Nairobi on September 2, 2014, which called on African countries to work together and take timely actions to address the global challenge of terrorism.
It is also in line with this concept of security that the countries in the East African Community (EAC) and the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) are busy building the capacity of the military, police and civilian components.
The participants are from countries including Burundi, Ethiopia, Israel, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Mushikiwabo underlined the importance of such discussions saying region countries needs more research to come up with Homegrown solutions to some of the security challenges facing our region, while at the same time working with our International partners.