The 9th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State & Government of the ICGLR was held on 15th November 2025 at the “Palais du Peuple” in Kinshasa, under the theme “Consolidating Peace & Security for Sustainable Development in the Great Lakes Region”.
It was attended by 5 Heads of State (of Angola, Burundi, CAR, DRC, Republic of Congo), Uganda’s delegation was led by Hon. Huda Oleru, Minister of State for Defence in charge of Veteran Affairs, who represented H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
This major event comes five years after the last summit held by video-conference in 2020, and was marked by the appointment of Dr. Mubita Luwabelwa from Zambia as new Executive Secretary of the ICGLR, replacing Amb. Joăo Caholo of Angola. The highlight of the Summit was the handover of the Chairmanship of ICGLR from Angola to DRC.
The Opening ceremony featured several speeches, notably that of Mr. Huang Xia, Representative of UN Secretary General who called for cessation of hostilities in Eastern DRC as well as guarantees for humanitarian access.
In his acceptance speech of the leadership of the ICGLR, President Tshilombo Tshisekedi said that his presidency will be “uncompromising on the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-aggression & the rejection of any support for armed groups & resolutely open to dialogue with a view to finding lasting political solutions that are inclusive of women, youth, local authorities and communities.
In her statement, Head of Uganda’s Delegation, Dr. Huda Oleru expressed appreciation to outgoing Chair of the ICGLR and the outgoing Executive Secretary for their steadfast leadership, encouraging dialogue and bringing parties together to advance peace and security. She highlighted the threat of ADF not just to Uganda but to regional stability. Hon. Oleru expressed appreciation and acknowledged the contribution of DRC towards operation Shujja and wished the DRC President success as in-coming chair of the ICGLR.
Hon. Oleru said that threats of terrorism and armed groups need to be tackled decisively, and there is need for the ICGLR to support the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM) to decisively neutralize the armed groups.
“Uganda views regional security and stability as key, and hence the Summit must recognize the expanding security challenges in Sudan South Sudan, and ensure ICGLR is actively involved in exploring concrete ways on how these can be tackled,” she said.
Calling on the Members to focus on Socio- Economic transformation. Urged Member States to prioritize regional economic integration and strengthen intra-regional trade, investment and infrastructure connectivity to accelerate socio economic transformation and improve the livelihood of the people of the Great Lakes region. She encouraged Member States to develop and implement national and regional programmes focused on job creation, youth and women’s economic empowerment, skills development and poverty reduction as critical foundations for sustainable peace and security in the region.
“Availability and abundancy of natural resources should be a blessing and not a curse and resources should not be used to fund armed groups,” said Oleru.
A closed session was later held that culminated into the “Kinshasa Declaration” as a guiding framework document regarding promoting of peace in the region, & fusing it with the Doha & Washington processes, as well as AU initiative under President Gnassingbe of Togo.
