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We have just witnessed an important step towards peace in the Great Lakes region. Leaders who had spent much of the past decade divided by deep political and other disagreements, or even facing each other directly or by proxy in armed conflict, have come together behind a common vision of peace. It took a long time for this conference to take shape. But today, at last, we can glimpse a better future on the horizon.

The extraordinary range and complexity of cross-border issues means the leaders and people of the region have every reason to cooperate. These borders need not be barriers; they can be havens of peace and engines of socio-economic development and regional integration. If they do not, all the individual peace processes will be incomplete at best, and remain vulnerable to reversal.

Leaders have shown real commitment in signing this Declaration. But the real test starts now, as they turn to designing the framework for the implementation phase, to be launched after the second summit in Nairobi in 2005. I have urged them to sustain the spirit of compromise that has brought them this far. I would also urge the people and civil society organizations of the countries involved to stay vigilant, and do their best to assist their leaders in following through on their commitments.

The countries of the region bear the primary responsibility for consolidating peace and ensuring stability, security, democracy and development. This process is their process. At the same time, Africa and the international community have a duty to assist them.

�鶹��ý, for its part, will continue to put its entire machinery behind the effort –from peacekeeping operations and humanitarian assistance to our development agencies and my own good offices.

In this regard I would like to pay tribute to Ibrahima Fall, my Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, who helped steer brilliantly the preparation for this conference. And here I mean: politically, substantively and organizationally. Thank you very much. We'll now take your questions

Q: [In French] The declaration has been signed. What does it mean? How will we know in a few years how they have succeeded?

SG: The fact that they are all here. It is the first time that these heads of state and government meet for this type of conference –a peace conference. We also have a follow up mechanism, so between now and 2005, there are three phases of preparations. We already have elaborated a plan of action. We are already planning our summits for the next year, with specific tasks that all must perform before the 2005 summit. We will follow up and put into action the protocol we just adopted.

Q: What specific implementation measures particularly do you have for demobilization for all the arms groups in the region and disarmament?

SG: I think when it comes to demobilization it will have to be done on a country by country basis, but what is important is that a national plan for demobilization and reintegration is established and all the protagonists sign on to it. You then disarm and hopefully some of them will be drawn into the army, and those who cannot be drawn into the army will have to be reintegrated into society; but it does require resources and the international community and donors often have helped and the World Bank has also helped. But first is the national plan for disarmament and reintegration and in countries where we have peace keeping operations we are working with the governments to establish this plan, some have already established it and it is in process of implementation.

[President Mkapa discussed the need for donors to deliver on promised funds without delay]

[President Obasanjo cautioned about how the issue of disarmament and demobilization is benefiting those who had taken up the guns. “It has become more lucrative for the guys who have taken arms than for those who have not taken arms,” he said.

SG: I would say that if you have a successful disarmament those without guns do not lose; they win. They win in the sense that these sorts of circumstances a man with a gun does not starve and they often intimidate civilians and they are a menace to society. So if you can have a mechanism for taking the guns from them and attracting some of them into the army and hopefully reintegrating some of the others -- yes we sometimes give them money to go and start life again and hopefully go to the farm and something -- but the president is right that others will say why are they getting money and we are not. Is it because they have a gun? But their gun is dangerous. The society gains too.

[President Mkapa answered a question on the declaration]

Q: [In French] Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are three countries that have suffered the most from wars and genocide. Do you believe that after the signing of this declaration, free, fair and transparent elections can be held in the DRC and Burundi with the dates set by the law? Also, do you think armed groups will continue cross-border operations.

SG: I hope these elections will take place. The preparations for the election in Burundi are going well. We have lots of work in the neighboring country, but work has begun with all the Congolese. It's a big country so there is a big effort to be made and I hope all will pitch in. Regarding those who cross borders to kill and attack, if one reads the accord carefully the neighboring state are not to tolerate this. They can not allow their own territory to be used to attack their neighbor. I hope this will be respected.

Q: Secretary General French President Chirac was on a visit to Britain and he has said two things. One, he is not sure whether terrorism will be gone after a change of regime in Iraq. Secondly, he has warned his friends, his allies in the West that they must not confuse westernization to democratization. What are your views on that Secretary General?

SG: I think President Chirac is a very experienced leader, he is a very experienced politician and he speaks very eloquently for himself and I am not going to second guess him. By the way he is also a very good friend of mine. [laughter]

Q: For President Obasanjo, in the context of broader African peace efforts looking at these agreements and then looking at Sudan specifically Darfur, we had the agreement in Nairobi yesterday for the Southern rebels but Darfur is still seem to be unaddressed despite the efforts of the African Union. How long do you think the current situation in Darfur is going to continue when do you think the African union is really going to be able to put the personnel in place that it said it wants to have there and what is the sort of delays in Darfur what could we read into that as far as the delay new agreements such as the Great Lakes. Where is the teeth?

[President Obasanjo answered the question. In the context of Africa, he said, every little bit helps]

SG: First of all let me say we are very grateful to President Obasanjo for the leadership he has shown on this Darfur crisis. He was quick to invite the protagonists and put them to work, and as he has said, good progress has been made. I just came from Nairobi yesterday, where the Government of Sudan and the SPLA, as you all know, committed themselves to completing the agreement by December. Yesterday, I spent over an hour here with President Bashir, his Foreign Minister and Minister of Finance and, just to confirm the hope that President Obasanjo expressed, they also informed me that they want to finish the Dafur negotiations even perhaps even before Naivasha. We should also appreciate the link between Naivasha and Darfur in the sense that the Naivasha agreement has dealt with some of the issues that are confronting the Darfur region. The Naivasha agreement, both sides agree, can be a base for the settlement of the Darfur agreement, and after the agreement they have a national conference so that they can look at the issue of peace comprehensively throughout Sudan, from North to South and East to West. This is going to be a challenge, the international community has made it clear to them that if they succeed in concluding this agreement there will be lots of help on the way and they will finally see the peace dividend they have been waiting so long for. Without peace nobody is going to put money in Sudan because nobody invests in a bad neighbourhood. Thank you.