♛elotiTV♛ Nigeria leads AU debate on conflict-free Africa: Nigeria will on Thursday lead the 15-member AU Peace and Security Council on a debate to evolve a mechanism for the effort to attain a conflict-free Africa by 2020, Amb. Bulus Paul Lolo, has said. Lolo, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, is chairing the session for the Security Council for the month of April and will lead an open session on the debate. The debate is ‘On Silencing the Guns: Pre-requisites for realising a Conflict-Free Africa by the Year 2020′. Lolo told the News Agency of Nigeria in Addis Ababa on Tuesday that the debate would evolve a robust institutional framework for effective prevention and combating the scourge of violent conflicts on the continent. He said the conflicts had remained a serious challenge with heavy toll on the people and the economy of Africa, in spite of the liberation of the continent from colonial rule and the dismantling of apartheid. “Violent conflicts have remained prevalent in some of parts of Africa, thus undermining development gains and efforts,” Lolo said. NAN recalls that in 2002, the protocol relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security of AU, which embodies the African Peace and Security Architecture was mooted as a milestone in Africa’s relentless quest for sustainable peace, security and stability. Members of the council will, during Thursday’s debate, exchange views on how to address the root causes of conflicts in Africa, with attention on the challenges and opportunities of attaining a conflict-free Africa by the end of the decade. According to the concept note of the debate, questions on how Africa can end its ongoing violent conflicts, prevent relapse to conflicts and ensure the sustenance of peace will be addressed. Lolo said the issues would guide the discourse to evolve mechanisms on how Africa, “acting alone, would address the internal and external factors that helped in sustaining the violent conflicts on the continent.” He said the council would come up with strategies required to prevent the cycle of violent conflicts with the use of practical tools to neutralise actions and events that often triggered such conflicts. The council will also review the use of the Continental Early Warning System, Panel of the Wise and other regional mechanisms which have served as its conflict prevention and management efforts, Lolo said. The outcome of the debate will contribute to the development of a roadmap to underpin the attainment of a conflict-free Africa expected to be endorsed and ratified by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government for implementation. There are pockets of conflicts ranging from ethno-religious and political insurgency in parts of Africa, including Mali, South Sudan, Central African Republic Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Nigeria, Egypt and Libya. The conflicts and insurgencies have led to the killing of hundreds of thousands of people, mostly women and children with two million others so far displaced from their places of abode. Original link Read More elotitv/easyblog/entry/nigeria-leads-au-debate-on-conflict-free-africa (y) ✍comment ☏share
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 11:59:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015