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M. Yombouno: Address to Peace Summit 2023, Session IV-A
Written by Hon. Maimouna Yombouno, First Vice-President, National Transition Council
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
Dear members of African Parliament, dear honorable parliamentarians and distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the Universal Peace Federation for the invitation. It’s the second time I’ve participated. I was in Maputo in Mozambique, and now I speak here today. I’m very happy to be able to talk to you and to express my gratitude for the very warm hospitality that we received here in Korea when we arrived in Seoul. It’s really a nice city, very welcoming. I have the pleasure to convey the greetings of the National Transition Council of which I am the first vice president. The National Transition Council is the legislative organ in this period of transition. Hon. Mamady Doumbouyais is head of state now.
Distinguished guests, I would like to acknowledge the remarkable work of UPF everywhere in the world, ever since it was created in 2005 by a couple who had a vision. Through their hard work, UPF’s continual commitment to promote the culture of peace on the planet earth confirms its position to be a leading organization in peacebuilding. This is the reason why we have this strong mobilization on the planet Earth. We admire their work.
Let’s talk about the challenges. What is the role of Africa in the contemporary world in which we live? There are reasons for instability. Organized crime is an important factor, also terrorist attacks, all kinds of violence, and the rejection of others. The consequences of this situation create much injustice and discrimination. This is terrible because they lead societies and communities to hate one another, and they create a vicious circle of crisis, tension and war. We can understand how human life is fragile everywhere in the world, and especially in Africa. Our poor populations are facing conflicts constantly, and in all the regions of Africa, it’s the same. We don’t need to elaborate more.
It’s important, however, to mention the most terrible conflict that we experience today. There is a problem in Sudan now. It’s a battle, a bloody battle, two opposing brothers in arms who were sharing power before, in a transition where there were so many demonstrations. Many powers are interested in manipulating this crisis and there are so many victims.
We are here to talk about peace. Young people and women are trying to escape Khartoum and seek asylum elsewhere. For us, peace with the power of love is the solution—the strength of the spirit. We have to convey the faith and hope that we can enable our ethnic groups to coexist together, despite the great diversity of humankind.
We have to unite in the fight for dignity and development. We have to sow seeds of peace and then we can fight violence and destruction and fear. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, in Guinea we consider peace a popular quest. We need the resolution to fight injustice, insecurity, poverty and their underlying causes. We have to respect the rule of law.
If the authorities make the determination to organize fair elections, then elections will be peaceful and everybody will accept them. As you know, elections that are not well managed are a source of conflict. We can say that peace can be built by the culture of living together with tolerance, justice, democracy and collective responsibility.
We have to offer to young people through education the culture of peace. We have to use our media. It’s important the media should be very serious about spreading a culture of peace everywhere. Also, schools, civil society and businesses should commit themselves to concrete actions. They must contribute meaningfully to peace, security and development, so that we have better crisis management. This is especially true in Africa.
I want to pay tribute to Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, Mother of Peace. She lost her husband when he died, but she’s so active all over the world. This is the reason why we have to especially mention the role of women in conflict resolution.
Women are the first victims of conflict and that’s why I want to convey a message of advocacy so that women attend the roundtable discussions, so that women can be present in these panels. We can have a special forum with women, like has been organized for young people. This is equal opportunity. Then together we can bring peace and live together for lasting development.
Thank you for your attention.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.