ECOSOC panel discusses link between peace and development in Africa

Africa must take charge of its own peace and development, taking care to address post-conflict situations, foster the scientific and technological aspects and understand the political and social basis for peace, according to a high-level panel convened at the current session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Former South African President Nelson Mandela, speaking via video link, said Africans must take on the responsibility to shape their future and must assume full ownership of the development process. Recently established regional development initiatives were testimony to the determination of African States to enhance cooperation among themselves. The continent's leaders needed to act together to further enact policies and to win international support and resources for sustainable development initiatives, he said.

Africa could not do it alone, Mr. Mandela stressed. Its partnerships with the world community, especially with the developed countries, multilateral institutions and private sector actors, had to be extended to long-term development support.

Also taking part in the panel, the former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, stressed that as victims of persecution and violence, refugees had to be given asylum and protected while in exile. Large-scale human displacement induced by conflicts inevitably had a negative impact on development. The very existence of people in refugee camps who were not integrated in their communities negated the conditions for country development.

According to Ibrahim Gambari, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Advisor for Special Assignments in Africa, conflicts and wars on the continent had multiple causes, so efforts to prevent or resolve them should also be multifaceted. The New African Initiative linked peace and development, and African leaders had made commitments through the Initiative to address the root causes of conflict, of which the main one was poverty.

Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflicts, said that it was important to invest in the youth of Africa, as they constituted the vast majority of the African people, and were deeply alienated from their countries and their societies. Often they were not in schools, they could have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and many were child soldiers. This had to be addressed, otherwise the violence and conflict would simply be recycled, he said.