The Governing Council of the Parties to the Lusaka Agreement has just concluded its 10th Session held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel-The Kilimanjaro in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

The Meeting was graced by Members of the Governing Council comprising Ministers  namely Hon. Ezekiel Maige (MP) President of the 9th Governing Council and Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism of the United Republic of Tanzania, Hon. Henri DJOMBO(MP)  President of the 10th Governing Council and Minister for Sustainable Development, Forest Economy and Environment of the Republic of Congo and Hon. Agnes Akiror Egunyu Vice President of the 10th Governing Council and Minister of State for Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage of the Republic of Uganda, His Excellency Mutinda Mutiso the High Commisioner  of Kenya to Tanzania representing the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife of the Republic of Kenya and Mr. Mohammed Wa-Mwachai the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife of the Republic of Kenya. The Rapporteur of the 10th Governing Council Hon. Wlybur Simuusa, Minister for Mines and Natural Resources of the Republic of Zambia could not attend the meeting due to exigencies of work. The Ministers were accompanied by technical experts from five Parties to the Lusaka Agreement namely Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The Kingdom of Lesotho and Republic of Liberia sent apologies.

The Ministerial Governing Council meeting held on 11th November 2011 was preceded by a two-day experts meeting which reviewed technical documents mainly comprising Task Force reports, programmes of work/budgets as well as proposals and reports . The meeting also reviewed pertinent issues affecting the implementation of the Lusaka Agreement including wildlife conservation  and cooperation among states/institutions on wildlife law enforcement in Africa.  Organizations’ such as UNEP, World Customs Organization/WCO-RILO, FREELAND Foundation-ASEAN-WEN Support Program and law enforcement agencies including INTERPOL NCB-Dar-es-Salaam as well the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) were represented and made presentations during the Experts meeting.

The meeting made a number of decisions to guide the implementation of the Agreement and particularly the work of the Task Force for the next two years.

To know more about the meeting, please contact us