LUSAKA, Dec 16 (NNN-ZANIS) -- President Rupiah Banda of Zambia and former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa held closed-door talks at State House here Tuesday on the political and security situation in the Great Lakes Region, according to the president's Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations, Dickson Jere.

Mkapa who is one of the mediators in the Great Lakes Region, is in the country to brief President Banda on the political and security situation in the sub-region ahead of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government summit to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, next month.

President Banda, who is the current Chairman of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), thanked Mkapa for the detailed briefing, which he added was useful in handling the conflicts in the region.

Mkapa said the political and security situation in the Great Lakes Region had normalized in some of the countries but there were still many challenges which needed to be addressed in order to have peace and stability in the entire region.

Mkapa and former Nigerian president General Olusegun Obasanjo are the two mediators appointed to spearhead the peace process in the region. -- NNN-ZANIS