Statement by Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
December 5, 2007
We welcome this opportunity to support our Great Lakes partners as they work together to forge a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for their people. I am here to underscore the commitment of the United States to your success. Our shared goals are the promotion of dialogue among governments, the dissolution of negative forces, and the establishment of regional security mechanisms. These goals must be achieved to ensure the protection of civilians and to eliminate the scourge of gender-based violence as a weapon of war.
We are proud that the United States is a major provider of humanitarian assistance to the conflict areas of eastern Congo and the Great Lakes region as a whole. The United States remains committed to providing humanitarian assistance to address the current emergency in eastern Congo. We look forward to the full and rapid implementation of provisions of the November 9 Nairobi communique as a major step toward eliminating the threat of violence and enabling development as we press for peace, safety, respect for human rights and justice for all of the people of the Great Lakes region.
U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE