Editor,

I wish to commend the ministers from member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) for their proposal to take a common position in dealing with negative forces like the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

The FDLR, a terrorist outfit holed up in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, can be defeated, once and for all, if the ICGLR members put their heads and hands together.

Members of FDLR planned and executed the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and the group later committed countless human rights violations, in Rwanda, DR Congo, Burundi and Uganda.

Therefore, regional leaders and the continent have an obligation to hunt down such criminals. Fighting terrorism is a responsibility of every person and not simply a job for security bodies.

Indeed, the proposal to collectively fight negative forces is good and must be sustainable.

There have been cases where member states have been accused by the ICTR of not doing enough to cooperate in arresting and prosecuting Genocide suspects. Such attitude must change.

Agnes Mukanyarwaya
Nyagatare