The impact of armed conflicts on environment worried Africa's troubled Great Lakes region, leading to the addition of a particular clause on the issue in a peace declaration adopted Saturday by heads of state who were in Dar es Salaam for a two-day summit.  

"(We are) concerned about the impact of armed conflicts on the environment, particularly the effect of refugees and internally displace persons on the degradation of the ecosystem of the Congo River Basin and the African Great Lakes region," the Dar es Salaam declarations said.

The clause about environment was first proposed by the Kenyan delegation at the pre-summit meeting of foreign ministers for the first International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, who suggested that the Great Lakes countries not forget environment when discussing how to bring peace, unity and prosperity into the region.

Kenya's proposal won immediate support from almost all delegates at the ministerial meeting, and then formed a new particular clause in the draft declaration.

"When refugees came to a place, they need wood for fuel, material of construction and land to farm. Within days, the place will be semidesert," Kenyan Foreign Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere said on Friday. Refugees need to be provided with alternative fuel and other assistance, so that they can live in peace with the environment, he said.

"Once the draft declaration adopted by the summit, we will develop mechanism and measures to implement," the minister said.

Kenya's protection of environment was boosted when Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, won the Nobel Peace prize.

Three million refugees and many more internally displaced persons are living within the Great Lakes region after longtime armed conflicts.

The Great Lakes region initially included countries that share the lakes of Kivu, Tanganyika and Victoria, but later expanded to include some countries that are actually away from the lakes.

The region now includes 11 member states of Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Presidents of the Great Lakes countries met here Friday and Saturday to discuss the Dar es Salaam declaration aimed at bringing peace, unity and prosperity to the conflict-ridden region, which was hailed by the United Nations and the African Union.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2004)