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N. Mumba: Address to Peace Summit 2023, Session IV-A
Written by H.E. Dr. Nevers Mumba, vice president, Zambia (2003-2004); founder, National Christian Coalition, Zambia
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
The convener and founder of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon; former heads of states and governments present here today; UPF chairman, Dr. Thomas Walsh; and all the leadership of UPF; your Excellencies.
The drums of war, conflict and insecurity seem to be getting louder and louder in our day. Heightening conflict has engulfed the entire human civilization, with tribe against tribe, culture against culture, nation against nation, religion against religion, and now, the East against the West.
It is for this reason that we have chosen to partner with UPF and the vision of its founders, Reverend Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, in the urgent search for world peace. The presence of UPF on the global scene serves as a deterrent to conflict and war.
This peace movement is one of the leading international promoters of world peace. It has, over the years, brought under one roof leaders from almost all nations of the world and proposed a way towards peace for mankind. Today, the world sits on edge and remains anxious as to what the outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war could be. We are gathered here in Seoul, Korea today from all across the globe, not to watch, but to actively participate in bringing peace to the now divided world of the East and West. Since war is brought about by man, we firmly believe that war can also be stopped by man.
We therefore salute the efforts of UPF to bring peace to our troubled world. Your Excellencies, Africa needs Africans to rise up and put a stop to the needless and endless wars that have characterized the richest continent in the world. We shall continue to welcome, of course, the support that we receive from the global community in our efforts to resolve our many conflicts. But no one understands the source of our conflicts better than Africans themselves. Today, thousands of Sudanese lie on the streets dead and hundreds of thousands are displaced as another senseless war rages on.
The war movement which benefits from these wars is busy providing weapons to both sides so as to create an environment where Sudan's natural resources of gold, cobalt, natural gas, nickel and uranium can now be plundered. It is for this reason that we support UPF's vision of introducing continental movements of peace to counteract the aggressive movement of war. We must raise our voice and challenge and work with the African Union to become more involved in bringing this conflict to a speedy end. Our goal should be to insist that real peace comes from God Almighty and not just the chambers of parliamentary buildings. We insist that people of faith must lead the way and be more proactive in reconciling a continent under threat.
Your Excellencies, a person without God in his heart is a person without peace. And a person without peace in his heart cannot bring peace in other people's hearts. We therefore insist that men and women of faith not shy away from getting involved in the political process. Morality and integrity in political leadership has now become very rare. The Bible tells us that people of faith are the salt of the earth, and if they be trampled underfoot, how shall the world be saved?
Africa will be a better place if men and women of faith who fear God can be supported to participate in the political processes of African nations. One of the greatest threats to peace in our individual nations like Zambia is in handling the experiment of democracy. We are of the view that democracy remains the most desired system of governance. Unfortunately, most African nations, including my country Zambia, whose foundation is tribal groups, suffer from tribalization of democracy. It heightens the tribal instincts and pitches tribe against tribe.
Mismanaged and rigged elections in many parts of Africa further fuel the conflicts and keeps the internal security of African nations at risk. As we speak, one of the biggest threats to peace in Africa is basically the biased electoral commissions that tend to support one group and manipulate elections in the process, bringing controversy, division and a lack of peace. Your Excellencies, we therefore propose that peace summits in Africa be increased, so that unity is promoted amongst tribes and different groups. My country, Zambia, and the people and leadership of Zambia support any effort to bring peace to Africa. We commend the efforts of Dr. Moon for paying so much attention to Africa at this time.
Together we shall overcome and present to the world a new, peaceful, resourceful and prosperous Africa. I thank you and God bless you.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.