"Cooperation in the field of defense and security will only be effective if it is coordinated by a mechanism in which all member states review themselves and therefore have the legitimacy to do so," João Lourenço said in his speech at a virtual summit on the Great Lakes region, attended by four heads of state.
In his speech, divulged by the presidency office, João Lourenço defended that the countries that integrate the Great Lakes region have always shown solidarity with the "Congolese brothers" in the fight against the negative forces that destabilize the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo).
But "Angola defends the need to reactivate the effective functioning of existing mechanisms, namely the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region, so that they effectively fulfill the role that is incumbent on them and that was the basis for their creation," he said.
The summit, which took place by videoconference and was attended by the Angolan president, Félix Tshisekedi, the heads of state of the DRC, Paul Kagamé, of Rwanda, and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, of Uganda, was "essentially to discuss security issues" on Congolese territory.
However, the four heads of state also assessed "the impact of the climate of permanent insecurity" in eastern DRC "on the territories of neighboring countries in areas such as emigration and the economy," the presidency note noted.
In this context, João Lourenço highlighted the illicit exploitation of mineral resources in the countries of the region for financing, not only armed groups in the Congo, but also, eventually, terrorism in other regions of Africa.
"The illicit exploitation of mineral resources in our countries should be seen as a way to finance the negative forces operating in the DRC and, eventually, to finance fundamentalist terrorist groups operating elsewhere in our continent, such as in the Sahel region, in Mozambique, or elsewhere," the head of state said.
According to João Lourenço, "over the years Angola has been one of the victims of the plundering of its mineral resources, namely diamonds, by African citizens of different origins, who commit the crime of organized illegal immigration, as well as the crime of illegal exploitation of the host country's strategic natural resources".
"This is a matter that should be taken seriously by all of us, and we believe that we will win if each of our countries does its part, taking the necessary measures in the universal fight against organized illegal emigration and the need to cut off the sources of financing for terrorism," he stressed.
The Head of State also pointed out, in relation to Angola, "two major challenges, that of combating covid-19 and its consequences in terms of public health, and the need to keep the economy producing the goods and services for domestic consumption and to export and maintain jobs".
Thus, he considered that the country invested "in record time" in the construction or adaptation of hospital infrastructures, as well as in hospital equipment to face the pandemic, increased "substantially" the number of hospital beds and intensive care units, and guaranteed the acquisition of biosafety materials for the medical staff.
At the same time, in this period of almost nine months, the executive "implemented economic stimulus measures to encourage the private sector of the economy to diversify and increase domestic production of goods and services, particularly agricultural and industrial products for domestic consumption," the President added.
