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IFAPA Meeting Hears of New Positive Image of Africa Former Finnish Minister Says Peacemaking Efforts Have Increased
TRIPOLI, Libya/GENEVA, 31 August 2007 (LWI) * Against the stereotypical pictures of the famine-ravaged African child among other such depictions, new positive images of the continent are emerging which portray hope and development.
"The first years of the millennium have shown that there is hope ... that many Africa leaders are accepting the challenge to work for peace, not only in their countries, but also in other African countries," Mr Par Stenback, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Finland told delegates attending a meeting of the Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA) Commission in Tripoli.
Stenback had stirred a lively debate following his presentation on "Images of Africa and Meaning to the Future of the Continent." His paper included statistics showing that in first five years of the new millennium, the number of conflicts worldwide had decreased from 66 to 56. The biggest decline, he said, had taken place in sub-Saharan Africa where the numbers went down from 13 to 5.
"I think the statistics tell us that peace making has taken some big steps and strides forward. We can refer to undeniable successes of conflict resolution in some African regions which have experienced the worst human tragedies in the last decades," said Stenback, one of the 30 IFAPA Commissioners attending the 27-30 August meeting.
He explained that the conflicts' root causes had not disappeared, but instead, African and international efforts to stop ongoing conflicts and prevent them from igniting had increased. "Civilian peacekeeping skills are improving fast in many countries," said Stenback, a former secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Bishop Sumoward E. Harris of the Lutheran Church in Liberia agreed there were changes especially with the gradual departure of African leaders who were not accountable to the people. Harris had earlier told Lutheran World Information that his country, with the help of religious leaders, was making tremendous progress toward full recovery since the end of civil war in 2003, and the transition to a democratically elected leadership at the end of 2005.
"Liberia is going ahead with recovery. The war is over and the government is moving ahead with recovery programs such as poverty reduction and sustainability," he said.
But Stenback also spoke of some of the unresolved long-standing conflicts on the continent, and called on religious leaders to proclaim that peaceful conditions brought more than just peace, they included prosperity and global support.
He cited the crisis in Western Sudan: "The conflict in Darfur has spread to Chad where 200,000 Darfurian refugees are living in camps and 90,000 Chadians are internally displaced. We see the writing on the wall. If a conflict is not resolved in a timely fashion, it will spread and spill over the national borders," he said.
Some delegates expressed concern that the bloody conflicts were being waged with weapons brought from the West. "The guns cause poverty and kill," said Ugandan MP Akiror Agnes Egunyu. "But there is also profit in their trade," she added. (515 words)
(Reported for LWI by Kenyan journalist Fredrick Nzwili, attending the IFAPA Commission meeting in Tripoli.)
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