Welcome to the website of The UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa. This is a political website, but not party political: all members are passionate about the development of a region so vital to the future of Africa. Most people agree that the UK government is doing a good job on development, but people across the spectrum feel equally strongly about the desperate need for progress in the Great Lakes region. There’s a lot parliamentarians can do to keep pressing for more resources and more development assistance, but also for increased political goodwill towards implementation of key reforms. We try to do that by producing our own reports on the region, by convening working groups, by flagging up latest developments, by lobbying ministers.
The Great Lakes Region is the heart of Africa and potentially its driving force. But it has been wracked by years of conflict. In 1994, the Rwandan genocide shocked the international community, which did little effective to stop it. Since then, the region has seen wars ranging from the long-running conflict in Burundi to the devastating rebellion of the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda. More than 5 million people have died as a result of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the most devastating war since the Second World War, and one that few people in the rest of the world know of. Now, after almost 20 years of remarkable economic reconstruction in Rwanda, after diversely credible elections across the four countries, hope across the region for a brighter future still needs all the support it can get.
On this site you will find information and update on discussions and debates about the big issues facing the region.
The APPG's latest report after our recent field visit to the DRC is now out. Two issues stood out above all others: the lack of security underlying many of the problems the country faces, and the horrifying sexual violence towards women. Look under Reports for more details.
JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI 28 May 2013 (IRIN) - Although Africa’s economy has expanded rapidly in recent years, it has not kept pace with the growth of its youth population or their need for jobs.
JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI 28 May 2013 (IRIN) - Although Africa’s economy has expanded rapidly in recent years, it has not kept pace with the growth of its youth population or their need for jobs.
JOHANNESBURG 31 May 2013 (IRIN) - A newly sanctioned African Union (AU) force for quick deployment in conflicts such as in Mali is being promoted as a stop-gap measure ahead of the planned formation of the “rapid deployment capability” (RDC) African Standby Force (ASF).
KAMPALA 11 June 2013 (IRIN) - More than 15,000 people living with HIV in the Central African Republic (CAR) had their life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) treatment interrupted as a result of the instability before, during and after the 24 March coup by the Séléka rebel group. NGOs are now struggling to ensure these people resume their regimens to reduce the risk of illness, drug resistance and death.
KAMPALA 17 June 2013 (IRIN) - A mobile phone-based health programme designed to improve access to sexual health information and boost safe sex in rural central Uganda had the opposite effect, according to the findings of a Yale University study published in May.
BANGUI, 18 June 2013 (IRIN) - A security crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR) - which began on 10 December 2012, when the rebel Seleka Alliance attacked the capital, Bangui, and continued after Seleka ousted former President François Bozizé on 24 March - is ratcheting up food prices, causing unemployment and salary payment delays, and throwing the banking system into turmoil.