Foreign affairs ministers from the Great Lakes Region of Africa have gathered in Nairobi to discuss the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo among other regional issues.

The ministers reaffirm their support for resolving the conflicts in the region through peaceful means.
Our Nairobi correspondent Wei Tong has the details.

The African Union Commission is calling for a speedy negotiation between the government of DR Congo and the rebels to end the suffering of innocent civilians.

Deputy Chairperson of the Commission Erastus Mwencha says the troubled eastern Province of North Kivu remains a serious challenge to the region.

"We call on the DRC government and CNDP leadership to negotiate in a responsive and constructive way to diffuse the tension and to find a speedy and definitive solution to the crisis. While tackling the crisis in North Kivu, every effort should be made to assist DRC and Rwanda to work together to eradicate the presence of negative forces in eastern DRC".

Fighting in the DR Congo has been fuelled by the country's vast mineral wealth. The leader of the rebel army General Nkunda says he is fighting to protect his Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels based in DR Congo.

To achieve peace and stability in the central African state, it is believed that dialogues will be the most important component.

Foreign Affairs Minister of Kenya Moses Wetangu'la says the devastating situation in the region has to be brought to an end once and for all.

"Great focus and emphasis will be placed on how to ensure that the long intractable war that has been going on in the Congo since the 1950s is brought to an end. I have no doubt that peace and stability in the country will herald a new dawn of peace in the rest of Africa."

An estimated 250,000 civilians in DR Congo have fled their homes and are living in desperate conditions following the latest outbreak of violence in the eastern part of the country.
 
Wei Tong, CRI News, Nairobi, Kenya.