1 The Role of Civil Society in Security Governance in the Great Lakes Region Paper presented at the Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector-DSP-ISS Conference, Novotel Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda By Dr. Annie Barbara Chikwanha, Senior Researcher, AHSI-Institute for Security Studies, Kigali, Rwanda, 20-21 September 2010 Introduction The Great Lakes Region (GLR) region remains fragile even though prospects for peace are improving all the time and this is due to efforts by both external actors and the locals in the region. A discouraging factor is that “several of the most violent and tragic episodes of the 1990s occurred after the negotiation of peace agreements- for instance in Angola in 1993 and Rwanda in 1994” 1 . Human rights continue to be breached, democratic political institutions are still weak, the rule of law is fragile and the political environment remains quite sensitive. Strengthened civil society oversight mechanisms are thus essential to ensure the working of the essential factors of good governance: legitimacy, accountability and transparency. As with many other countries, the GLR is characterized by deep divisions based on ethnic, tribal, religious, regional and other sectarian cleavages. Managing this diversity has been a challenge for many countries and it is a constraint that the political leadership has to overcome in this region. Decades of deliberate discrimination against regions/provinces and groups by former GLR governments has caused its own share of conflicts. Cultural, linguistic and social elements are also important factors that must be considered in understanding the conflicts in the region. Decades of conflict and insecurity have taken their toll on the GLR civilian populations who continue to struggle in a poor economic environment where chronic food insecurity is high. In post conflict situations, the abuse of human rights tends to continue as government regimes often tend to become more authoritarian in the quest to contain order and a peaceful appearance. Unfortunately, the region has an entrenched culture of using force as a legitimate way of alternating governments and though the leadership is embracing other democratic models, it is partly the role of civil society to safeguard the use of legitimate means in power alternation. Violent conflicts devastate