DAR ES SALAAM, May 27 -- THE idea of the Great Lakes regional organisation was born in Dar es Salaam in 2004. More than twenty years later, Tanzania is welcoming the region home, this time with women at the centre of the story. On the morning of 12 May 2026, a Standard Gauge Railway train departed Dar es Salaam carrying a delegation of parliamentarians and officials from across the Great Lakes Region.

The journey to Dodoma takes roughly three and a half hours, long enough to watch the coastal humidity give way to the drier plateau of Tanzanias interior, and to reflect on what was waiting at the other end.

The occasion was the signing of a Host Agreement between the Forum of Parliaments of the International Conference on the Great Lakes ...