From REBECCA MUSHOTA in Windhoek –

. LUNGU

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has said Zambia’s participation in fostering peace in Africa is necessary for the country’s prosperity and peace.
Mr Lungu said Zambia’s prosperity would be enhanced if the continent enjoyed peace.
“Peace with our neighbours will mean peace in Zambia and prosperity for us.
“We cannot be too far away from trouble if there is no peace around us,” Mr Lungu said.
The President was speaking yesterday afternoon at Eros Airport here shortly before he left for Lusaka.
He was in Namibia for a day to attend the fifth Consultative Summit of the African Union (AU) Committee of the 10 Heads of State and Government (C10) on the reform of the United Nations (UN) Security Council.
Zambia is one of the 10 members of the Committee appointed by the AU to advocate permanent representation at the UN Security Council.
President Lungu said it was important to participate in fostering peace and security in Africa because it guaranteed peace and prosperity within the country.
He said Zambia was concerned about the unrest in parts of the Great Lakes Region because the lack of security in that region could eventually affect the country.
Mr Lungu said Zambia was also part of the UN family that promoted good governance, human rights and peace, and that was why the country was actively participating in fostering peace and the C10 agenda.
He said it was equally important to ensure that there was good governance within the UN as Africa was advocating.
In the quest to push for the agenda, Africa should work as one because it was easier to achieve its goal whenever things became difficult.
Earlier in a closed-door session at the Heads of State Summit, President Lungu said there was need to understand the reasoning of African countries that had not ascribed to the African goal to have permanent representation at the UN Security Council.
He said the C10 should not falter on the goal to project Africa’s desire to have a permanent place at the Security Council.
President Lungu said from the report presented by ministers of the C10, it was clear that they took a bold step to negotiate with the five members of the Security Council, adding it was unfortunate that the consultations proved that the UN was far from reaching common ground on the matter.
He was hopeful that the AU Summit would make a clear decision on the direction to take because the continent needed to make progress on the negotiations.
The President was seen off by Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba, Namibian Minister of Mines and Energy Obeth Kandjoze, Zambia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Mwaba Kasese-Bota, Zambia’s High Commissioner to Namibia Sylvia Chalikosa and other officials.