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D. Traore: Speech at World Summit 2014
Written by Prof. Dioncounda Traoré, Former President, Mali
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Excerpts of speech at World Summit on Peace, Security and Development, Seoul, Korea, August 9-13, 2014
The theme which I wish to address under the rubric of peace, security and human Development in Africa, is the crisis in Mali throughout 2012 and 2013. It was a crisis that summarizes in general all those known in Africa, a crisis characterized by war in the northern part of the country against irredentists, narco-traffickers and jihadists leading to insecurity throughout the territory, aggravated by a institutional crisis following a military coup.
Never in its 45 years of Independence has Mali experienced a crisis so acute and profound.
The foundations of the nation were shaken. Two thirds of our territory fell into the hands of secessionists, jihadists and narco-traffickers in several months.
Hundreds of thousands of our compatriots took the route of exile, some in neighboring Algeria, Mauritania or Niger and others in cities of southern Mali, such as Mopti, Segou and Bamako.
The democratization process was stopped by the coup d’etat of March 2012, which led to much more unconstitutional conduct and many acts of violence worthy of another era.
This crisis lasted for 17 months, from March 2012 to September 2013, and the support and solidarity of ECOWAS [the Economic Community of West African States] was needed, along with all of Africa and the international community, especially the beneficial help of France, to bring it to an end….
To achieve peace and security in Africa, the solution is collective, and to achieve development the solution is equally collective. It is necessary in both cases for us to integrate and unite, and this is not surprising because we have said that without peace and without security there will be no development, and without developing there is neither peace nor security. Being a mathematician, I point out a logical equivalence between peace and security one the one hand and development on the other.
There are conditions necessary for development, peace and security, such as democracy, the struggle against corruption and good governance.
Peace, security and development in African and the Middle East cannot be achieved independently from the rest of the World.
We must be convinced that peace and security in the world are conditional upon global and balanced development for everyone. This means the necessary solidarity among people and continents so our can live in dignity and as happily as possible on this beautiful planet that we share.