Over the past two decades, the Great Lakes region has been plagued by widespread conflicts causing immense suffering and devastation. Much of this violence took on a regional dimension. Today there are increasing signs that the region has set itself on the path to peace, thanks in part to stronger concerted action by African leaders to promote peace and stability. In 2004, 11 countries established the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) as a forum for resolving armed conflict, maintaining peace and security, and facilitating post-conflict reconstruction.

The regional seminar in Nairobi will examine major challenges to effective implementation of a security agenda in the extended Great Lakes Region and seek to promote increased parliamentary oversight of the security sector at the domestic level and, regionally, to advance cooperation between parliaments on security issues in the light of the objectives of the ICGLR and other international initiatives.

The meeting is open, first and foremost, to the parliaments of the countries that participate in the ICGLR (Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia). Other Parliaments in the region are naturally more than welcome to participate in the event.