Tag Archives: Africa

Togo in the struggle against terrorism: The “Pacific Magazine” plays its part

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from agence AFreePress (translated by CPNN)

The fight against religious extremism and terrorism in vogue in the world and particularly in the West African sub-region was at the heart of a forum organized on Saturday [June 4] in Lome by the “Pacific Magazine” supported by the Embassies of Egypt and Libya, according to the Afreepress news Agency.

togo

According to El Hadj Moitapari Kouko, publication director of the organizing magazine, the peace forum under the central theme “Convergence for the Culture of Peace” aims to promote exchanges around the issue of peace, enlighten the public about the moral values ​​of Islam, and promote the contribution of the media to the concepts of peace and tolerance. It also aims to bring all communities to actively join the culture of peace, to share a good way of living together and to strengthen an open dialogue.

In the various panels of the forum, several personalities came to the podium to address the fight against terrorism.

In his speech, the Minister of Security and Civil Protection, Colonel Damehame Yark reported that sub-regional security environment, with borders that are porous borders to the proliferation of light weapons and small arms, is more threatened with various terrorist attacks in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire. This, according to him, will double the “legitimate” fear of the population due to the proliferation of terrorist groups and the volatility and elusiveness of terrorists themselves.

“Today more than ever, strengthening the security of our territories is needed and it first passes internally through open collaboration between civil society, opinion leaders, religious leaders, in short the whole population and the defense and security forces, “he added.

For Atcha-Dedji Affo, CEO of the mobile company, Togocel, if the protection of populations and territories lies with law enforcement and security, success in the fight against this scourge requires the participation of each and every religion. “The terrorist has no religion, neither rich nor poor,” he noted while emphasizing that the fight against terrorism through weapons costs more than a policy of prevention.

“Islam is not a violent religion,” argued El Hadj Inoussa Bouraima, President of the Muslim Union of Togo (UMT). For him, the terrorist is a “rapist” and a “thief of peace.”

Mohamed Karim Sherif, Egyptian Ambassador to Togo is convinced that to counter terrorism, “the solution is the friendship and the action in trade.”

In total four (4) panels were developed for several hours under the themes: “geopolitical crisis in relations with the Muslim world”, the “Jihad and terrorism”, “Islam and the fight against terrorism” and “spiritual values, the guarantee of peaceful coexistence.”

The panelists included Archbishop Nicodemus Barrigah Bénissan, two academics (a Togolese and an Egyptian) and an Islamic scholar.

After the forum which is in its first edition, a united front for peace was established.

(Click here for the original French version of this article.)

Question for this article
Africa, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Addis Ababa: Pan-African Symposium on Education, Resilience and Social Cohesion

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from UNICEF

Ensuring equitable access to education is key in addressing the root causes of conflict and instability in Africa, stakeholders said today [June 1] ahead of the Pan-African Symposium on Education, Resilience and Social Cohesion, at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa.

africa
Click on image to enlarge

The three-day event shares evidence and best practices from UNICEF’s Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme (PBEA), and the Inter-Country Quality Node (ICQN) on Peace Education, established by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). In doing so, the Symposium will seek to assess how inclusive, equitable and innovative education policy and programmes can contribute to sustainable peace and development across the continent. Currently, three out of 10 children in Africa are living in conflict-affected settings and exposed to numerous risks.

“The capacity of education to support children develop and thrive is well documented, however we now also know that education can prevent and reduce the impacts of conflict,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala. “If the right policies and interventions are in place, together with financial investment, education can be a driving force in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 36 out of 45 countries are at medium or high risk of experiencing man-made disasters, the highest rate globally. Moreover, at least 327 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa live in fragile contexts and the majority of the estimated 29 million primary school aged children who are out of school are primarily found in fragile settings and are particularly at risk or threatened by conflict.

“We need to reorient Africa’s education and training systems to meet the knowledge, competencies, skills, innovation and creativity required to nurture the continent’s core values,” said Dr Martial de Paul Ikounga, African Union Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology. “We will then promote sustainable development at the national, sub-regional and continental levels.”

The African Union Commission, under the Agenda 2063 “The Africa We Want”, envisions that by 2020 “all guns will be silent and a culture of peace and tolerance would be nurtured in Africa´s children and youth through peace.”

Oley Dibba-Wadda, the Executive Secretary of ADEA, sees education as “a key tool against all kinds of violence” and strongly appeals to African governments to “endorse and develop integrated, peaceful, inclusive approaches and strategies that support the implementation of a comprehensive program on non-violence, tolerance and peace, especially for the young generation.”

The high-level event in Addis Ababa, which is being attended by Ministers of Education from 16 African countries, including conflict-torn states, will close with concrete recommendations on how to strengthen education sector policy and programmes in Africa to address the risks faced by children and to support sustainable peace and development across Africa. The symposium will also provide evidence to inform both donor and public funding strategies and investment priorities.

“Education can play both a protective and preventative role. In doing this, education’s power is transformative and serves as a peace dividend, reducing inequities and grievances between groups and strengthening social cohesion” said the Ethiopian Minister of Education, Ato Shiferaw Shigute.

The symposium is co-organized by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education, UNICEF, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), and the Inter-Country Quality Node (ICQN) on Peace Education.

Question for this article:
Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Angola protects wildlife, turns to ecotourism to diversify economy

. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT .

An article from the website of World Environment Day – United Nations Environment Programme

As the plane banks in off the Atlantic Ocean over Luanda, the capital of Angola, the chief driver of the southern African nation’s economy announces itself loud and clear. Dozens of hulking tankers and cargo ships sit low in the water off the bay, colourful containers are stacked up like Lego bricks along the long port, and workers bustle around the base of a loading crane that dominates the skyline. But all this activity belies the economic problems Angola has faced as the result of falling oil prices. . . .

With no sway over the global geopolitical and socioeconomic trends that have hit oil prices, Angola is looking to new industries such as ecotourism to drive growth and also help the global fight against climate change by gradually moving away from the domination of oil.

angola
On the Cuito River
click on photo to enlarge

“We need to look at ways to diversify our economy and participate in the progress of our future generations,” said Environment Minister Maria de Fátima Jardim. “This is why our President has committed to protecting our elephants.”

The minister was speaking at the start of celebrations of World Environment Day, which Angola is hosting this year on 5 June as a sign of its commitment to combatting the illegal trade in wildlife.

Angola lost many of its elephants during a long civil war, which ran on-and-off from 1975 to 2002. It is unclear how many elephants remain, but those that do are facing pressure from poachers – both those seeking to profit from ivory and poor communities who rely on bushmeat to survive.

The nation is also a transit country for ivory, with carved goods coming over the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo for re-sale, largely to Asian nations.

The troubles facing Angola are part of a wider global problem. A new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)-INTERPOL report, released on 4 June, found that transnational criminal networks are profiting to the tune of up to $258 billion per year from environmental crimes, including the illegal trade in wildlife. This is a 26 per cent increase on previous estimates.

In response to its problem, Angola is introducing tougher penalties for poaching, shutting down its domestic illegal markets, and looking to provide alternative livelihoods for those at the bottom of the illegal wildlife trade chain. They are also training former combatants to become wildlife rangers.

“We have a big push to manage protected areas and create others for the benefit of our people,” said Abias Huongo, Director of Angola’s National Institute of Biodiversity. “For us to survive, other species need to survive. Together with the tourism ministry, we are exploring the potential of ecotourism to address the economic deficit with biodiversity.”

(Continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

How can tourism promote a culture of peace?

(Continued from left column)

It is also in Cuando-Cubango, a key region for biodiversity, where new lodges are opening. The Rio Cuebe lodge is one such place. A collection of cute and comfortable huts ranged along the leafy banks of a lazy river near Menongue, the lodge has been open for three years.

Regional ministers and biodiversity experts packed the lodge for a conference as part of World Environment Day celebrations, but most of the time it sits half empty. When guests come, they are usually expats working in the country.

However, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner believes this situation is about to begin changing.

“Angola has, over many years, relied on its fossil-fuel economy, whereas the last year has shown that kind of dependence can be a risk,” he said. “So, as Angola is managing the fall-out from the drop in oil prices it is looking at diversifying; this is where the notion of the green economy becomes relevant.

“Cuando-Cubango is a region that could provide an enormous opportunity for investment in terms of tourism: a unique area where in 20 years’ time the world will be paying thousands of dollars for an overnight stay.”

Steve Boyes, a National Geographic Society explorer, also believes a new path for Angola is opening up. Boyes and his team travelled to the source of the Cuito River – one of the two main rivers that flow into the Okavango River and feed the Okavango Delta, a 10,000-square-mile wetland that sits across the borders of Botswana, Namibia, and Angola.

As they travelled almost 1,600 miles in dug-out canoes over three months, Boyes and his colleagues saw first-hand the natural beauty Angola has to offer. The explorers have discovered three new species of plant, six new species of fish and four new species of reptile – all unique to Angola. Boyes and his partner John Hilton are working with the government to scope out ecotourism opportunities.

“We are talking about the largest undeveloped river basin on the planet,” he said. “It’s an incredible opportunity for conservation, for tourism development. To me, it’s the biggest tourism and rural development opportunity in Africa in the last few decades.

However, Boyes believes urgent action is needed to ensure wildlife is conserved. He is particularly concerned about bushmeat, having witnessed villagers move from subsistence to selling the meat in markets for profit – with the killing of animals now taking place at a larger scale.

“The scenic beauty and wildlife are all here. If we do it (conservation efforts) in five years’ time it would take thirty years to fix. If we do it now, it will take ten years to fix,” he said. “If we get 100 adventure travelers in on mountain bikes, they (villagers) will earn far more money than they get off bushmeat. There is a strong desire for a new beginning.”

Africa, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Pan-African Parliament calls on African Union to support the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from the website of the Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly

Yesterday [May 12], the Pan-African Parliament called on the African Union and Africa’s governments to support the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, in short UNPA. In a resolution adopted by the plenary by consensus, the parliamentary body of the African Union states that “a UNPA is necessary to strengthen democratic participation and representation of the world’s citizens in the UN” and that the new assembly would “contribute to strengthening democratic oversight over UN operations, particularly in Africa.”

panafrican
Click on photo to enlarge

Noting its “concern that the creation of a UNPA is currently not part of the official UN reform agenda,” the document calls on “the African Union and its Member States to support the creation of a UNPA and to take necessary steps to advance this goal at the UN by triggering and initializing a preparatory intergovernmental process for the purpose of establishing a UNPA.”

The president of the Pan-African Parliament, Nkodo Dang from Cameroon, stated last week that “more than 70 years after the establishment of the United Nations, global interdependence has made us all world citizens. It is long overdue that ‘We, the Peoples,’ as the UN Charter begins, have more say in global affairs. For this purpose, a UNPA needs to be established.”

Yesterday’s resolution was introduced by Ivone Soares from Mozambique. “The resolution shows the aspiration of the Pan-African Parliament and the African citizens which it represents that the global order needs to become more democratic. It is time for governments to pay attention to this issue. They need to enter into serious deliberations on the establishment of a parliamentary body at the UN and African governments could take the lead,” she commented.

The global coordinator of the international campaign for a UNPA, Andreas Bummel, said that the resolution was an important step forward. “We hope that African governments will play a leading role and the Pan-African Parliament’s support is crucial to achieve this. The next step that we envisage in the international efforts is the creation of an informal group of open-minded governments at the UN in New York that looks into the proposal of a UNPA and how to proceed best,” he said.

In an opinion piece published by the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian last week, the South African parliamentarians Stevens Mokgalapa and Heinrich Volmink argued that “Africans, perhaps more than anyone, know how urgently we need more capable and more democratic tools of global governance” and that the creation of a UNPA “would represent a watershed moment in the democratic reform of the UN.”

According to a recent BBC World Service poll in 18 countries, “more than half of those asked (56%) in emerging economies saw themselves first and foremost as global citizens rather than national citizens.”

In 2007, the Pan-African Parliament adopted a first resolution in support of a UNPA.

Question for this article:
Africa, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Côte d’Ivoire: clubs of peace and non-violence installed in Universities

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from abidjan.net (translated by CPNN)

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Ramata Bakayoko Ly, conducted on Thursday [19 May] in Yamoussoukro, the inauguration of clubs for peace and non-violence in the universities and grandes ecoles of Côte d’Ivoire with the aim of pacifying the academic space.

abidjan

The investiture ceremony, held at the National Polytechnic Institute in Yamoussoukro, launched the capacity building activities of the peace and non-violence clubs of the Universities of Ivory Coast in the presence of the Minister of Solidarity, Social Cohesion and the Compensation for Victims, Prof Mariatou Koné and the Representative of the UN Secretary General in Côte d’Ivoire, Aichatou Mindaoudou.

Click here for the original French version of this article

Question for this article:

University campus peace centers, What is happening on your campus?

There are now seven university clubs: Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Cocody, Nangui Abrogoua of Abidjan, Alassane Ouattara of Bouake, Péléforo Gon Coulibaly of Korhogo, Lorougnon Guede of Daloa and the public grandes ecoles ENS Abidjan and INP-HB, Yamoussoukro.

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research praised the students for their massive support to the cause of peace before sending them on a mission as ambassadors of peace to address the barriers of violence, intolerance and fanaticism.

“I urge you to practice acts of non-violence on the campus. In this way you can ensure that the academic activity can take place in a peaceful climate and the Ivorian universities will reach the level of the best universities of the world and contribute to the emergence of the Ivory Coast”, advised Ms. Ramata Bakayoko Ly.

The awareness campaign on the culture of peace with students was launched jointly in 2015 by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the United Nations Office in Côte d’Ivoire. It provides a framework for exchange of experience and acquisition techniques that will enable members to better play their role in supporting the peace efforts of the academic space in the spirit of the Charter of nonviolence named after Alassane Salif N’Diaye professor emeritus.

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Sub-regional consultation on “Youth and culture of peace in Central Africa”

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article by M. Franck Carel Nkaya, UNESCO

Addressing the new challenges of the Central African region, the UNESCO Regional Office for Central Africa [Yaoundé, Cameroon] organized for its partners from 20 to 22 April 2016, a meeting of exchange and participatory reflection on “Contributions of UNESCO and its partners to the efforts of ECCAS States for youth involvement in the consolidation of peace and the achievement of sustainable Development Goals for sustainable emergence in Central Africa “.

enzo
click on the photo to enlarge

The various debates of the meeting were focused on the following topics: peace and climate change and ecosystem protection in relation to the strategies of Priority Africa of UNESCO and Agenda 2063 of the African Union. The youth of Africa were considered to be the primary agent of change.

Of the ten (10) countries that make up the Central Africa subregion, only Equatorial Guinea iwas not represented. The delegations were composed of the National Commissions for UNESCO, ministerial delegates (Forest Economy, Environment, Culture and Arts, etc.), UNESCO Chairs and Category 2 Centres of UNESCO Clubs and Associated Schools of UNESCO and youth movements.

Besides the Member States, the meeting also saw the participation of representatives of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF), the United Nations Regional Office for Africa Central (UNOCA), the United Nations population Fund (UNFPA), the Pan African Youth Network for the Culture of Peace (PAYNCOP) and the UNESCO Offices in Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Libreville and Yaounde.

The work of the third day of the meeting focused on the sub-regional program “Youth and culture of peace in Central Africa” ​​which aims to strengthen the capacities of youth as the main player for prevention of violence and for conflict resolution by peaceful means in order to build more inclusive, just, democratic and harmonious society.

After the plenary presentation of the situation of African youth by Mr. Stephane NZE Nguema, President of the Pan African Youth Network for Peace and the presentation of the concept note of the ‘Youth and Culture of Peace in Central Africa “by M . Franck Carel Nkaya, UNESCO Brazzaville, participants were divided into thematic working groups.

Facilitated by the team “Foresight Initiative” of UNESCO Paris who presented a paper on the prospective and participatory approach, the work took place in workshops in four areas: (i) Education for global citizenship, sustainable development and culture of peace, both formal and non-formal; (Ii) Youth empowerment and development of leadership skills for youth movements of the region; (Iii) youth skills development for the creation of income-generating activities, particularly in the cultural and creative industries and sustainable development; (Iv) media campaign to promote the culture of peace and mobilization of partners.

The participants identified priorities and major actions to meet the challenges of the subregion that concern young people, including: the manipulation of youth in conflicts, intolerance and the resurgence of negative values ​​(moral, civic, citizen), unemployment, lack of schooling, expansion of terrorism resulting in the increased risk of religious and ideological radicalization of youth, etc.

Following the sharing of workshop results, all of the countries and the technical and financial partners at the meeting pledged to support the implementation of the program ‘Youth and Culture of Peace in Central Africa “.

The work of the Yaoundé meeting wwas sanctioned by the final communiqué in the presence of Madam Minister of Basic Education, President of the Cameroonian National Commission for UNESCO who encouraged UNESCO to sustain this initiative .

( Click here for the French version.)

 

Question related to this article.

Will UNESCO once again play a role in the culture of peace?

Most recent comment:

It is very appropriate that this new impulse for the culture of peace at UNESCO should come from Côte d’Ivoire, since the global movement for a culture of peace was initiated at a UNESCO conference in that country in 1989. See Yamoussoukro and Seville in the early history of the culture of peace.

Note added on September 2:

The official reports from the UNESCO Conference in Abidjian are now available:

English

French

Africa, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Mali: The struggle against terrorism: Towards the creation of a global network of Ulemas

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from Malijet (translated by CPNN)

The Malian Association for Peace and Well-being (AMPS) returns to its quest for a peaceful and tolerant Islam in Mali. The first attempt was postponed after the terrorist attack of November 20, 2015 against the Radisson Blue hotel. This time, the organizers have set a new date for the conference to be held from 14 to 16 May 2016 in the Bamako International conference Centre.

Mali

According to the president of AMPS, Mamadou Moussa Diallo, the objective of this meeting is to understand and claim Islam as a factor of peace, tolerance, solidarity and sharing. To achieve this goal, he explains, speakers will come from several countries to discuss topics such as “violence as seen by Islam”, “Islam: the relationship between religious extremism and poverty”, “Islam, peace and development “,” the media and the culture of peace.”

“On the sidelines of the conference, we also intend to set up a global network of religious leaders to prevent the rise of extremism in Africa and the world,” said the president of the association. “We need such a global network of Ulemas to struggle against the terrorist forces that have have gained strength by their international cooperation.”

(Click here for the original French version of this article.)

Question for this article
Africa, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

No Means No Kenya

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Ujamaa

NO MEANS NO KENYA works to provide simple, high impact Self- Defense training to as many women and children as possible worldwide. We believe prevention is key in the global rape epidemic. For far too long the overwhelming focus has been on aftercare strategies – this needs to change. It is believed that Self Defense training can raise a woman or child’s chance of prevailing in a sexual assault by up to 85%.

umamaa

It is our vision to mainstream self defense and end the fallacies and myths surrounding a woman or child’s ability to stop an assault. Our rape prevention efforts have appeared in over 40 media outlets including CNN, Huffington Post, MSNBC, Current TV, Daily Kos and Fox Sports.

No Means No Worldwide is a comprehensive rape prevention organization for girls and boys. We are a school based program that uses the IMpower system of violence prevention training. We teach classes in 6 week cycles, three times per school year, with the number of students ranging from 7000-9000 per cycle.

We believe the best response to the epidemic of sexual assault is to provide our male and female students with an awareness of the causes and effects of sexual gender based violence and the skills to intervene or prevent it.

Our research shows that in high schools where girls have taken our classes the incidence of rape drops from 20% annually to under 10%. Over half the girls in the intervention groups report having used the IMpower skills to avert sexual assault in the year after the training. Rates of disclosure increased in the intervention groups, but not in controls.

Preliminary research on our new IMpower boys curriculum shows that male students gender-negative attitudes towards women and girls were transformed to a more positive and supportive set of beliefs and behaviors. At 6-month follow-up, 334 of 676 respondents (49.4%) had witnessed a girl or woman being verbally harassed and 259 of 334 (77.5% had successfully intervened to stop the harassment. Similarly, 313 of 676 (46.3%) had witnessed a male physically threatening a girl or woman and 228 of 676 (33.7%) had witnessed a sexual assault. In these situations, 228 of 313 boys (72.8%) and 167 of 228 (73.2%) who witnessed these events, had successfully intervened to protect the victim.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

Question related to this article:
Africa, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Central Africa: ICGLR Summit On Formal Peace Education in the Great Lakes Region Concludes in Nairobi

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from conference website

The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) has concluded a two-day Regional Peace Education Summit, which it co-organised with Interpeace and UNESCO in Nairobi, Kenya. Delegates at the summit, held from 3-4 March 2016, included officials of Government Ministries responsible for Education, Gender and Youth members of the national parliaments and provincial governments, and practitioners from Burundi, the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as technical experts in peacebuilding and peace education from Interpeace and UNESCO.

summit

Ambassador Josephine Gaita, ICGLR National Coordinator of the Republic of Kenya, officially opened the summit on March 3rd. The summit focused on the implementation of formal peace education in three ICGLR member states, namely Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Rwanda. The Republic of Uganda was also present as an active observer, while the Republic of South Sudan was represented by the country’s ICGLR National Coordinator.

Proceedings included presentations on the state of peace education in Burundi, the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, expert presentations on the policy and practice of peace education, plenary discussions and sessions where each delegations could reflect on their country specific ideas on the way forward for effective implementation of formal peace education. Participants expressed the need for regional level peace education strategies to respond to conflicts in the Great Lakes which have often had a cross border dimension.

The summit was premised by two prior occasions. The first was an Extraordinary Summit of ICGLR Heads of States on Youth Unemployment, held on 24 July 2014 in Nairobi, which emphasized the important role of the youth in the pursuit of peace, security and stability within the region. The second was a 2014 participatory action research process carried out by Interpeace and its six partner organisations in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern DRC. The research was based on consultations with diverse actors across the Great Lakes region and revealed that most people considered identity-based stereotypes and manipulations as a fundamental obstacle to sustainable peace in the region. The research participants suggested that peace education could serve as a priority intervention to address challenges related to identity-based stereotypes and manipulation, arguing that peace education could both strengthen existing peacebuilding efforts and help in the prevention of conflict among future generations.

(Article continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Solidarity across national borders, What are some good examples?>

(Article continued from left column)

Interpeace’s Regional Director for Eastern and Central Africa (ECA), Johan Svensson, lauded the national delegations and the ICGLR for taking into account the sentiments of the local populations in their efforts to achieve sustainable peace and security both in their countries and in the region.

“Your commitment as stakeholders is inspiring because you are responding directly to your people’s call for peace education,” Mr Svensson remarked at the summit.

The summit revealed that peace education efforts already existed in all the three countries, albeit at varying levels of implementation. Among some of the challenges discussed was the need to develop comprehensive peace education frameworks and to foster a pedagogy that would create harmony in the understanding of integration of peace education in the three countries. These findings were emphasized by ICGLR Executive Secretary, Professor Ntumba Luaba, who called for the creation of a regional ICGLR peace education programme and acknowledged the delegates for making the first steps in the regional cause for peace education. Ministry representatives of the country delegations committed to sharing the findings of the summit with the concerned actors in their respective countries, in order to make sure that the summit results will inform future peace education efforts.

“Peace education has the potential to create a new generation of women, men and youth who will be the guardians of peace in the region,” Professor Ntumba told participants at the summit.

Professor Luaba also lauded ICGLR’s partnership with Interpeace, which made it possible for the summit to take place, and suggested the organisation of a similar Peace Education summit with participation from all the twelve ICGLR Member States. The ICGLR Member States include the Republic of Angola, the Republic of Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of Sudan, the Republic of South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republic of Uganda and the Republic of Zambia.

(Thank you to the newsletter of the Global Campaign for Peace Education for sending us this news.)

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Zanzibar Peace, Truth & Transparency Association

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

from Ali Mussa Mwadini

Dear Sir / Madame,
 
Please help our organization to unite & work together. to promote & sustain a true culture of peace & peace operations and local conflict resolution in Zanzibar community. The Zanzibar Peace, Truth & Transparency Association is a non-profit Organization, non-political, non-religious, and non-military registered in Zanzibar Tanzania, with its headquarters in Zanzibar Town.

zanzibar
Photo of Association on International Day of Peace

Against a background of wars, conflicts, tension and insecurity within Zanzibar community, our Organization was founded to focus on True Culture of Peace, and Peace related issues, such as Human rights, Gender Inequality, Interfaith, Democracy, Good Governance and Rule of law within Zanzibar and the Tanzania at large.
 
Our Organization is triggered by the resurgence of political misunderstandings between ruling and opposition political parties in every multiparty election in Zanzibar since 1995, which ends up with conflicts and distorts social fabrics. Zanzibar Peace, Truth & Transparency Association, is committed to address those political misunderstandings accordingly in order to safeguard lives and properties of the Zanzibar community.  In this respect, we therefore need to bring together and live Peaceful and prosperous society, and to ensures equal rights and privileges to all Zanzibar citizen.

We aim to:

– build a peaceful Zanzibar Community, free from Violence, Conflict, Hatred and Fear

– To promote compassion and understanding, respecting the Differences, Gender Equality and tolerance and for others live together in Harmony

– To promote peace Community in the Villages, Districts, Regional and National, encourage and strengthened for a National Movement for a True Culture of Peace in Zanzibar

(Article continued in the right column)

Question for this article:

Can peace be guaranteed through nonviolent means?

(Article continued from the left column)

– To undertake Peace Training program within rural Community Leaders, Religious groups, Women Groups, Youth Groups & Youth Centers, Schools, Colleges & universities,  in order to reduce conflicts and create  sustainable future generations

– To empower community members with skills and knowledge to produce income generating activities in order to reduce poverty and increase peace

– To Change and Revive the norms and rules governing Zanzibar community, Religious Groups & Political Parties, at all levels in order to ensure that conflicts are dealt with constructively through institutional channels

– To seek cooperation with Peace Loving countries and institutions which indulge in promoting Peace Awareness, Conflicts Resolution, Peace Building, Negotiation and Reconciliation, Strong Dialogue and Forgiveness and promote the Culture of Peace as an urgent task that requires the committed engagement of all the people in Zanzibar & the World.

Our Organization is working in Unguja & Pemba Islands through community training,  group meetings, mobile cinema, Political meetings, Religious Groups and Women Groups. The large population in our two Islands have adopted a peaceful way of life to avoid Conflicts

It Is Never Too Late To Live Together As Humans Despite  our Political Parties & Religious Differences
 
To consolidate peace after war is a long-term process. To consolidate democracy is an even longer one.

LET US UNITE FOR THE WORLD PEACE.
LET PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH

Ali Mussa Mwadini
Executive Secretary & Peace Activist
ZPTTA NGO Zanzibar
( Tel: +255 777 451257 )
(amwadini1950@yahoo.com)

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE