Steven Candia

21 July 2009

Kampala — The International Conference on Security in Africa started yesterday with a warning that the sharing of the River Nile water and border demarcations was a potential security threat on the continent.

Opening the two-day conference at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, the foreign affairs state minister, Okello Oryem, noted that if the two issues were not well managed, they were time-bombs that could destabilise the continent.

"The matters were swept under the carpet because we were involved in other intricate conflicts. Now they are beginning to surface," he stated.

Oryem said Africa, nevertheless, had a wealth of untapped resources.

The conference, organised by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), has brought together experts and government officials across the continent and Europe.

It is aimed at identifying future threats to security, with a view of charting out a way of forestalling their occurrence.

Oryem said timely interventions were crucial to abort the threats and called for the strengthening of the African Union initiatives for border demarcations.
Sorting out the border disputes, Oryem said, was a necessary step in avoiding future conflicts.

He urged the delegates to examine the effects of globalisation, population growth, democracy and good governance.

The ISS director based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kenneth Mpyisi, said the conference would consider the Darfur and Somali conflicts, piracy and climate change.

The conference will also discuss the role of the AU, economic and regional integration to establish whether the continent is prepared to deal with its problems.

Mpyisi said the findings would boost the African Union Peace and Security Architecture and the early warning system.
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