UK, French Ministers To Visit

By Alfred WasikeTHE British and French foreign ministers, Jack Straw and Hubert Vedrine, are to make their first joint visit to Uganda and three other African countries from January 21-23 in a bid to pacify the troubled Great Lakes Region. Their visit, a peace initiative agreed on at the British-French Summit in London on November 29, 2001, aims at ending the conflict in which millions have died and many more, especially women and children, have been displaced. “Joint ministerial visits are a key part of the UK-French strategy towards Africa announced by the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) and President (Jacques) Chirac in St Malo in December 1998,” the London-based Foreign and Commonwealth Office said yesterday. Straw and Vedrine will visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo on January 21, Rwanda and Burundi on January 22 and Uganda on January 23. They will meet the presidents of each country and other leading political figures. “The UK and France were once rivals in Africa. But in the 21st century, we know we can achieve more together than we can alone. Central Africa is the scene of the biggest war in the world. This conflict has been ignored for too long,” Straw said. He also noted, “The region stands at a key moment.The fighting may have stopped but peace has not yet broken out. Hubert Vedrine and I will be urging the leaders of the region to seize this opportunity for peace. “We will of course be expressing our sympathies for the suffering caused by the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo (in Goma, Congo) and seeing what the international community can do.”Ends