The propensity for even internal conflicts in countries of the central African subregion to overlap, overspill or feed into one another makes the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) a frontline partner of OSESG-B by default.

The cross-border activities of dissident groups exacerbate tensions between States in the region. At the same time, they also undermine efforts to reconcile the parties in conflict and forge lasting peace. In part, this explains why leveraging a rapprochement between the Government and the exiled Opposition has been a key challenge in the Inter-Burundi Dialogue.

Hence OSESG-B works in close collaboration with the ICGLR, whose proactive interventions cover the entire region of the Great Lakes. Both institutions pursue security, stability and development in Burundi and the sub region at large. They also share the same concerns about the cross-border ramifications of conflicts in the region – political, economic, humanitarian and otherwise.

The ICGLR was first mooted by the United Nations in 2000 when Security Council resolutions 1291 and 1304 called for an International Conference on peace, security, democracy and development in the Great Lakes region. For six years the United Nations and the African Union jointly led the preparatory phase of the ICGLR up to 2006 when a Pact establishing the 12-member organisation was signed in Nairobi, Kenya.

The following year the ICGLR inaugurated its Executive Secretariat in Bujumbura, Burundi with Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia as member countries.