AU gets the peace award
DlaminiZuma’s commission recognised for peace efforts in Africa
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has expressed concern at the neverending conflict in some African countries.
Speaking last night at the Africa Peace Award at the ICC in Durban, Zuma said the current tensions in Somalia, the Central African Republic, Mali and Burundi were troubling.
But he was confident Africans’ collective efforts at promoting peace could yield positive results.
“The pursuit of peace is paramount for the realisation of our developmental goals. Without peace, stability and security there will not be development and ultimately prosperity,” he said.
Zuma said the Africa Peace Award was a significant contribution to the objective of Silencing the Guns by 2020, in line with Agenda 2063, the continent’s blueprint for development.
At the glittering event attended by South African, African and international dignitaries, the African Union Commission, chaired by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, was presented with the 2015 Africa Award.
It is awarded by the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Accord).
The commission was recognised for its contributions to promoting sustainable, solid economic development and pursuing peace on the continent.
The award was presented by Graça Machel, who chairs Accord’s board of trustees.
Dlamini-Zuma expressed her concern about the widening gap between the rich and the poor, saying this was a worrying trend.
KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu saluted the organisation’s dedication to the renewal of the contininent.
“We believe this type of gathering is a symptom of a continent in renewal. But we still have to work hard.”
Initially the award focused on peacemaking in South Africa, but its work was extended to the continent in the hope of promoting peace.
The recipients were chosen by the trustees and staff, based on three criteria: protection of and respect for human rights, the peaceful settlement of disputes; and good governance in public affairs.
Durban is the official host city for the awards.
The first recipient was the community of Mpuma-langa near Hammarsdale , KwaZuluNatal, in 1993 for turning this township from one of the most violent in South Africa into a haven of peace.
Nelson Mandela was the second recipient in 1995, hon- oured for the role he played fighting the apartheid system.
Other recipients included the former president of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, and the people of Nigeria.
In 2003, the award was presented to a group of children from various parts of Africa who symbolised the future of the continent and its hopes and dreams.
Accord has been active in the Burundi peace process since 1995 and has had an office in the country since 2003 trying to help ease tension there.
The first African NGO to address the UN Security Council on conflict, Accord has vowed to continue its work in Africa.
On Friday its founder and executive director, Vasu Gounden, called for the UN to convene a global conference on peace to tackle the ongoing conflict in African countries that has left scores dead.
He said they would co-host with the UN a high-level experts’ meeting on migration, to be chaired by UN Under-Secretary General Maged Abdelaziz.
On Friday, Accord hosted the chairperson, deputy chairperson and secretary of the Burundi national dialogue forum, for a two-day intensive discussion to find a way to help in Burundi.
Gounden said he was delighted his organisation was ranked 68 by the University of Pennsylvania in the US.
“We were placed well ahead of many of our global peers. We were also the highest ranked African think tank,” he said.
Gounden said he intended to assemble a multi-disciplinary gathering of experts from around the world in Durban.
“We will host the event here in this venue named after Africa’s first Nobel Peace prizewinner, Inkosi Albert Luthuli , so that we invoke the spirit of this great leader and statesman,” he said.