Judith Suminwa calls for greater political influence for Great Lakes women
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Beto and Le Potentiel
DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa called on Great Lakes parliamentarians to give women real influence over political and security decisions at a conference that opened on 2 November in Dar es Salaam, according to Beto and Le Potentiel. She condemned violence in eastern DRC and Rwandan aggression, according to Beto; Le Potentiel says she referred to violence attributed to the Rwandan army and its proxies and called for regional commitments to become action.
Le Potentiel reports that Judith Suminwa called on Great Lakes parliamentarians to move women’s participation from representation to real influence over political and security decisions. The DRC prime minister was speaking on 2 November in Dar es Salaam, at the opening of the Parliamentary Women’s Conference for Peace and Development, according to Beto and Le Potentiel.
Suminwa called for women to take part in conflict prevention, mediation and reconstruction, and for laws, budgets and parliamentary oversight to be used to combat gender-based violence and strengthen women’s autonomy, according to Beto. Le Potentiel adds that she also called for support for girls’ education, healthcare and assistance for displaced people, and for the proceedings to produce priorities and monitoring mechanisms.
The prime minister condemned violence in eastern DRC and Rwandan aggression, according to Beto. Le Potentiel reports that she attributed the violence to the Rwandan army and its proxies, referred to forced displacement and the suffering of women and girls, and called for states’ sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected. She praised Congolese women’s role in social cohesion and presented them as actors in the search for lasting solutions.
The acting president of the Parliamentary Forum of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, Angolan Adão Francisco Correia de Almeida, advocated dialogue and diplomacy as ways out of the crises, according to Le Potentiel. Tanzanian Vice-President Deogratius John Ndejembi, who opened the proceedings on behalf of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, called for women to be given an effective role in leadership bodies and decision-making processes.
