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Guinea Bissau Sees Hope in Peace Tour
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Bissau, Guinea Bissau - The Global Peace Tour brought a vision for peace to Guinea Bissau, whose president had been assassinated the previous month. A conference took place at the Azalat Hotel on April 11. Many dignitaries, political party leaders, and Ambassadors for Peace attended, including a representative of the interim President, the Hon. Mamadu Iaia Djalo, who is the President's Adviser on Diplomatic and Religious Matters and a member of the President’s cabinet.
The main speech of the global tour, “One Family under God: A New Vision for Peace in the 21st Century,” was given by Mr. Cliff Yasutake, senior advisor to Guinea Bissau. A radio station and a television station sent reporters and camera crews to the event.
The speech was well received. The statement by Hon. Ralia Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya, that the principles he had learned by attending a UPF conference helped him and other parliamentarians "make the necessary steps to end the tribal violence" plaguing his nation after the contested presidential elections, made a deep impact on leaders in this country, whose president João Bernardo Vieira had been assassinated barely a month earlier, on March 2. People retain vivid memories of coups, turmoil, and the 1998 civil war in this small country on Africa's west coast.
On April 9, the Secretary General of UPF-Guinea Bissau, Nene Fernandez, and special advisors Akiko Isababa and Cliff Yasutake met with the interim President, Raimundo Pereira. He expressed support for UPF's work in Guinea Bissau and stated that he saw hope for peace through UPF's work. He spoke about his trip to New York for the International Leadership Conference in January of this year, where he was astounded to see so many leaders from so many countries in attendance. At that time, he was the President of the National Assembly. By constitutional decree, he was named interim President after the assassination, until national elections could be held, which were scheduled for June.
The next day, President Pereira invited UPF leaders, including Rev. Adama Doumbia, the director of UPF-West Africa Sub-Region II, to a birthday party for his wife at his personal residence, which gave an opportunity to talk on a personal level with the President and his cabinet members. Rev. Doumbia had made friends with President Pereira during the New York conference, and his leadership in West Africa is much appreciated.
For the keynote address and more information about the peace tour, click here.
Note: Malam Bacai Sanhá was elected president in a peaceful process and took office on September 8, 2009.