The primary objective of the seminar was to assess the prospects for durable peace and security and to identify the challenges to democratization in the Great Lakes region. The policy seminar proved particularly timely as the main countries in conflict in the region – Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – stand at varying degrees of transition and harbor the potential for renewed violence. Rwanda has conducted two elections since the 1994 genocide, but the credibility of the electoral processes has been disputed and elements of structural violence have not completely disappeared. In Burundi, while the main Hutu insurgent group has acceded to the peace agreement, the Parti pour la libération du peuple hutu – Forces nationales de libération (PALIPEHUTU-FNL) have not. Furthermore, plans for the demobilization of former combatants and reintegration of refugees from the 1993 political violence are yet to be effectively implemented. Finally, in the DRC, the active presence of Rwandan militias in the Kivu provinces is causing the Rwandan army to deploy into the DRC, thus violating the Pretoria Agreement between the two countries. It highlights the need to resolve domestic security concerns in Rwanda in tandem with the subregional peace process underway in the DRC.