Great Lakes countries open intelligence center

By Pascal Kwesiga

Uganda and other countries in the Great Lakes region have opened up an intelligence fusion center in the Democratic Republic of Cong (DRC) to coordinate their efforts against negative forces.

The center was opened by eleven countries under the auspices of the International Conference on Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Goma last week.

The member countries of the regional block will utilize the center to share intelligence information on the armed rebel groups in the region and take collective action to eliminate the negative forces.

Robert Mugimba, the Foreign Service officer in the ministry of external affairs said the intelligence fusion center will provide information to help combat armed insurgent groups, including the rebel groups the Interahamwe and the Lord’s Resistance Army.

The LRA has killed, maimed and abducted tens of thousands of civilians in Uganda, DRC, Central African Republic and South Sudan during an insurgency against the government of Uganda that has so far lasted for over twenty years.

Mugimba said each member country has provided three people with vast experience in intelligence gathering to man the center that will be working with the regional forces hunting for armed groups in the region.

The Congolese Foreign Minister, Raymond Tshibanda N’Tungamulongo, and Alphonse Ntumba Luaba, the Executive Secretary of ICGLR, signed an agreement to allow DR Congo host the headquarters of an intelligence sharing centre for the Great Lakes region.

Ntuba Luaba said the centre will contribute to the consolidation of peace and security within the Great Lakes region.
He added that said the center is housed in a building that has been availed to ICGLR by the DR Congo government.