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Experts meet on peace building in
Africa
Accra, Jan. 29, GNA - Experts on peace building and good
governance from 16 African countries are meeting in Accra to
build capacity of African civilian personnel within the
emerging challenges of peacekeeping operations on the
Continent.
The training aims at increasing increase the readiness and
professionalism of civilian personnel that participate in
peacekeeping and other missions and enhance their capacity
to respond effectively to the complex challenges of
post-conflict reconstruction.
Opening the 19-day training, Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation and
NEPAD, noted that the core task of all current peace
operations was the rebuilding of effective public
institutions within a democratic and functioning society.
He said a strong connection existed between democratic
practices and the achievement of true peace and security in
any new and stable political order.
"Where good governance flourishes, violence is curtailed.
This is because the practice of the tenets of good
governance such as its participatory nature,
consensus-approach to decision-making, accountability of
political actions...leave very little room for tensions that
could lead to violent conflict or that can be re-ignited,"
Mr Osei-Adjei said.
He said Africa needed the skills, commitment and dedication
to help to establish mechanisms and arrangements for
sustainable peace building and enduring stability on the
Continent.
"We need to develop the most appropriate doctrine and
strategy for multidimensional peace operations that
thoroughly integrate the security dimension with associated
economic and political development requirements," he said.
Professor Kwesi Yankah, the Pro Vice Chancellor of the
University of Ghana, said the return to constitutional
democracy was not necessarily a recipe for peace since it
had only succeeded to submerge dictatorships.
He said civil society coalitions, therefore, had to continue
the agitation for transparency in governance and the
electoral process.
Prof. Yankah said civil society initiatives were
particularly meaningful on the assumption that they were the
greatest victims in times of strife and crisis and,
therefore, the onus laid on them to spearhead the efforts in
ensuring sustainable peace.
Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, Former Vice Chancellor of the
University of Ghana, said Africa should build a cadre of
personnel over the coming years whose watchword should be;
"if you want peace, you must prepare for peace".
He said Africa needed peace because it had gotten more than
its fair share of wars and conflicts throughout its colonial
and post colonial history.
"Africa needs to develop its human capacity and improve the
quality of life of its people; war and civil conflicts do
not bring these," he said.
The Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA)
in-collaboration with the International Training Programme
for Conflict Management of Italy is organizing the training
under the theme: "Building Peace in Africa.”
GNA
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