Sudan Warns Continued Support to Negative Forces will Destabilize Security of GLR

Khartoum – Sudan's Vice President, Dr. Al-Haj Adam, has warned that security situation in the Great Lakes Region may worsen due to the support provided by some countries of the region to negative forces.

"These are facts that we should accept as the matter requires transparency and seriousness" Dr. Adam said. "This is not interference in domestic affairs but we have forces in the region and these forces have been labeled negative by the GLR and should be eliminated" he added.

Addressing yesterday the closing session of the meeting of the Defence Ministers and Chiefs of Intelligence of the Great Lakes Region convened to tackle the issue of negative forces in the region, Adam denounced the fact that the International Conference of the Great Lake Region (ICGLR) since its inception in 2006 could not realize its strategic goal to eradicate the negative forces despite the decisions taken in previous meetings.

"The intelligence apparatuses are required to undertake this role after information is made available by the Intelligence Fusion Centre concerning these forces" he said.

Issuing decisions is not enough, they should be followed by enforcement, he said, adding "diplomatic activity is required to support efforts to eradicate the negative forces".

The Defence Ministers since the decision taken in Kampala did not take a practical step towards eradicating the negative forces, he said, citing the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) which is labeled a negative force but is still receiving support from a member state, stressing the necessity of its eradication.

He affirmed Sudan's political, diplomatic and financial commitment towards the recommendations of the meeting and called on the negative forces in the region to resort to voice of reason and engage in political and democratic activity rather than military action and expressed hope that the meeting would come up with decisions to promote security of the region.

Chief of Joint Staff, First Lt. Gen. Esmat Abdul Rahman, underscored the need for Khartoum meeting to work out an action plan to finish off all negative forces and groups in implementation of the decisions taken by the member states at their previous meeting.

The plan includes political, economic and social themes, affirming Sudan's commitment to work in total transparency, respect to neighborliness and non-interference in domestic affairs of other countries. He said Sudan is keen to find a permanent solution to the issue of negative forces, citing Sudan's successful experiences in combating negative forces.

According to Gen. Esmat, the action plan would be submitted to the summit meeting of the GLR scheduled to convene in Kampala next week. He said Khartoum's meeting expressed grave concern over deterioration of security and humanitarian situations in eastern Congo due to activities of the negative forces.

Meanwhile, the executive director of ICGLR revealed a strategy to eradicate the negative forces, saying they are concerned over situations in eastern Congo. He said the eradication plan was endorsed by the summit of the heads of the member states in Kampala, stressing the need for consolidation of efforts towards that end.

Kenya's assistant minister of defence affirmed his country's support to ongoing efforts to eliminate the negative forces in the GLR. "These negative forces have been opposing democratically-elected government" he said, adding that Kenya is suffering from repercussions of activity of  Al Shebab in Somalia, saying his country is now hosting over half million Somali refugees.

Representative of the Republic of Congo expressed concern over what is going on in the eastern part of his country despite the efforts including from the international community. "Civilians are killed, abducted and raped by the negative forces" he said.

Representative of Rwanda also highlighted activities of negative forces in his country, saying over 22,000 Rwandese are now refugees as a result of these negative forces.