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27 January 2006

Mr President

Thank you to Tanzania for convening this debate at this crucial point along the road to the restoration of a secure environment in the Great Lakes region.

The progress in the peace processes in the Great Lakes region in recent times bears testament to what can be achieved through cooperation and coordinated regional and international efforts. We congratulate Burundi on having moved successfully to government by democratically elected representatives. We further applaud the steps already taken by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) towards achievement of that goal. The successful staging of the recent constitutional referendum augurs well for the forthcoming general elections.

However, security and the humanitarian situation in the Great Lakes region remains of concern to the international community. The United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, briefed the Council last month on the serious and growing threat to regional peace and security wrought by the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in southern Sudan, northern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These activities have brought suffering and instability to the region and displaced millions of innocent people.

Mr President

Peace within the Great Lakes region cannot be attained while militant groups such as the LRA are rampant. We therefore call upon the LRA to cease their acts of violence and to cooperate fully with the international community and regional countries to end the conflict. We further encourage the three Governments concerned to work to promote regional solutions.

Mr President

While Australia’s main focus of humanitarian activity is our own Asia-Pacific region, Australia has assisted those affected people of northern Uganda with donations administered through UNICEF and the World Food Program (WFP). Last year Australia made $2 million available through the WFP to assist displaced people living in camps in northern Uganda. We have also contributed towards regional stability through the deployment of 15 Australian Defence Force personnel to UNMIS. In the near future, 10 Australian Federal Police officers will also be deployed to UNMIS.

Australia welcomed the recent decision to establish a United Nations Peacebuilding Commission. We support a stronger and more coordinated role for the UN in assisting fragile states negotiate the peacebuilding process. We particularly support better coordination among the various UN actors on the ground in post-conflict countries. In the context of the current debate on the Great Lakes region, we envisage that the Commission will be able to assist regional countries and regional organisations in pursuit of their goals.

Further, we encourage the Council to remain seized of the security and humanitarian issues facing the Great Lakes region.