LTA Executive Director in visit at the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)

The LTA Executive Director, Dr. Henry MWIMA with the Director of Administration and Finance, Mr. Désiré EBAKA visited on March 7th, 2012 the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.

 " We are looking for the partnerships with all regional and international institutions to develop the Strategic Action Programme on Lake Tanganyika" said Dr. MWIMA. He also took time to indicate what is the main mission of Lake Tanganyika Authority, "the LTA Secretariat coordinates activities at regional level, but in each country, there is a National Coordination Unit which is responsible for implementation of the programmes and projects at national level." mentioned the LTA ED.

" Another important activity which the Lake Tanganyika Authority is dealing with is the resources mobilization in order to implement concrete projets related to environmental protection and sustainable management of the Lake Tanganyika and its Basin" added Dr. Henry MWIMA.

According to the Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, Prof. Alphonse NTUMBA LUABA expressed his gratitude for the visit paid by the LTA Executive Director. According to him, the four Lake Tanganyika riparian countries (Burundi, D. R Congo, Tanzania & Zambia) are also Member States of ICGLR. " We are obliged to collaborate with you" indicated Prof Ntumba. There are so many socio-economic issues that the ICGLR is working on and we will try to liaise with other institution to enhance the environmental domain and see how the ICGLR can advocately support each activity.

He wished sucess to the LTA for its project on Harmonization of Fisheries Policies and Legislation. As Executive Secretary, he accepted to involve the Ministers from the four riparian countries of Lake Tanganyika in this activity.

Note that the ICGLR was established in the early 2000s as a response to the debilitating consequences of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the late 1990s and the horrfic genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The ICGLR ic composed of 11 Member States namely Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. These two horrific events proked the leadership of the United Nations to request for a regional response to the crises and subsequently the African Union and the leaders of the Great Lakes Region Member States embraced it.