Defence, Foreign Ministers to brief Parliament today

PARLIAMENT - The ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence are today expected to brief legislators on the security situation in the region. This was revealed Sunday by Augustin Habimana, the Director of Communications in the Lower Chamber of Parliament, in a phone interview with The New Times. The ministers will brief the lawmakers on the war in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and its impact on Rwanda. “Yes, Parliament requested that we brief them on the security situation in the region,” Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister, Rosemary Museminali, confirmed. As earlier reported while meeting with members of the diplomatic corps at her offices recently, Museminali stressed Rwanda’s commitment to peace in the region. Government officials have often held that peace is dependent on strong political will by the DR Congo government. The DR Congo is home to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a rebel outfit largely made up of masterminds of the 1994 Tutsi Genocide. While reciprocating Museminali’s earlier visit to Kinshasa, Alexis Tambwe Mwamba, DR Congo’s Foreign Affairs Minister, recently hinted on the possibility of working to resume diplomatic relations. Their meetings dealt with security in the region, including the threat of the FDLR whose facets continue to multiply and the ongoing war between the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and the government. Ends