African leaders to agree Great Lakes security plan

NAIROBI, Dec 13 (Reuters) African leaders are expected to agree a 225 million dollars security package this week aimed at preventing further bloodshed in the continent's violent and impoverished Great Lakes region, officials said today.

Up to 11 heads of state are due to sign the pact at a U.N.-backed summit in Kenya, spelling out five-year action plans under a regional cooperation deal that was launched in 2004.

Top of the agenda is a peace and security programme for the Great Lakes, which includes Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and has been torn by wars and counter-wars for more than a decade.

A draft of the plan seen by Reuters allocated more than 0 million to disarming a host of rebel groups in eastern Congo and pastoralists in northern Uganda, northern Kenya and south Sudan, as well as boosting border security and de-mining.

Another 22 million dollars will be spent on tackling rampant illegal arms trafficking, cross-border crime and terrorism.

''Every country here has its own needs, but they are all looking for stability... This provides a framework to avoid what happened in the past: skirmishes in border regions that led to all-out war,'' said UN spokesman George Ola-Davis.

''These are all realisable, tangible projects, they are not just going to be massive white elephants.'' ENVIRONMENT IMPROVING The pact also includes good governance programmes estimated at 23 million dollars, seven humanitarian ''priority projects'' at million, and a long term integration and infrastructure plan costing more than 1.2 billion dollars.

It will be paid for by mandatory contributions from member states -- the first of which are expected to be announced on Thursday -- and voluntary pledges from donors. The fund will be managed by the Tunis-based African Development Bank.

''The political environment in the region is improving,'' said Said Djinnit, the African Union's peace and security commissioner, highlighting recent landmark elections in Congo and relative stability in post-civil war Burundi.

''But it needs a lot of reconstruction, and that must primarily be the responsibility of countries in the region.'' In November 2004, Great Lakes leaders agreed measures on disarming insurgents, cutting illicit weapons flows and the illegal exploitation of natural resources, and on cooperating to help millions of refugees uprooted by local conflicts.

Experts said that the deal reached in Tanzania was a positive sign of stability, but that it would be difficult to implement in a region riven by poverty, violence and ethnic mistrust.

Also today, the UN launched an .1 million appeal for Tanzania, DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Of that, 54.5 million dollars is for food aid for 2.5 million people, and 13.8 million dollars on protecting refugees and former refugees.

REUTERS PDM RN2119