“On 24 February 2013, 11 African countries signed the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement designed to bring peace to the Great Lakes
Region, in particular the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),
which has been in the grip of armed conflict for two decades. The signatories
to the agreement were South Africa, Angola, Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville, the
Central African Republic (CAR), the DRC, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Zambia. A previous agreement – the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement – had been signed 12 years earlier in Zambia. These two peace agreements reflect the balance of regional power. They illustrate the competition between neighbouring countries to the east of the DRC and those to its south, based on the shift in economic power to Katanga province from North and South Kivu.”
