President Lungu address summit on regional leaders in Angola

President Edgar Lungu has told a summit of regional leaders in Angola that they must abide by constitutional order and avoid behavior that creates instability leading to unnecessary humanitarian crises in the region.

Addressing the extraordinary summit of the international conference of the great lakes region (ICGLR) taking place in Luanda, Angola today, President Lungu underscored the need for African Leaders to adhere to the culture of respect of the principles of democracy and constitutionalism as per the regional grouping’s agreed pact if the cycle of violence in the region was to come to an end.

He drew the summit’s attention to some of the most challenging situations in Burundi, Central African Republic, DRC, and South Sudan.

On Burundi, the President said regional leaders needed to address the disturbing events in that country by confronting all the issues that have led to the instability that has sparked off a refugee crisis forcing more than 100,000 civilians to flee.

On South Sudan, the Head of State regretted that the ongoing hostilities in Africa’s newest state have the potential to condemn the country to a perpetual state of conflict and instability.

He said the ICGLR has to agree on practical steps to ensure the peace plan recently agreed leads to a sustainable and amicable settlement of the conflict.

On Central African Republic, President Lungu announced Zambia appreciation of the efforts by the interim government to bring about lasting peace in the country.

He appealed to the international community to lift the sanctions that were placed on the country to try and pressure the previous regime to abide by the rule of law and constitutionalism.

The President observed that it was encouraging that recent disturbances in the DRC over the eligibility criteria for contesting the elections have not worsened and hopes that authorities there will work progressively to ensure that the situation does not escalate.

He said Zambia stands ready to work with DRC to help bring about a lasting settlement to the problems that may arise during the process leading to the country’s next elections.