Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire—To honor the International Day of Peace, UPF held a conference under the theme “Partnership for Peace and Citizenship Responsibility.”
Local governors, religious leaders, professors, journalists, business leaders, community chiefs, NGO leaders, women leaders, students and youth leaders were among the 60 attendees. The September 21, 2015, event took place at the RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication Organization) office in the Plateau community of Abidjan, the nation’s economic capital.
The ceremony started with an invocation by Imam Drame Musa, an Ambassador for Peace. In his prayer, the imam asked God to bring together the hearts of all His children to focus on peacebuilding.
Mr. Aka Saye Lazare, chair of UPF-Côte d’Ivoire, in his welcoming address, delivered an important message to all the participants, inviting them to become masterpieces of peace in their community. Their challenge, he said, is to build a world of peace by embodying the core values of UPF, such as cooperation, reconciliation, dialogue and living for the sake of others. In conclusion, Mr. Aka urged the leaders to extend the message of peace to their communities so that the upcoming presidential elections on October 25 could take place in a peaceful environment.
The keynote speaker, Hon. Emmanuel Gbocho, the former chair of UPF-Côte d’Ivoire, said that peace cannot be built by one person alone, one family, one community or one nation. It necessarily needs communication among people, collaboration between families, cooperation between communities and interdependence between nations. Because the foundation of peace, joy and happiness resides in relationships with others, in order to build a world where peace prevails forever, partnership is necessary.
UPF-Côte d’Ivoire has more than 3,500 Ambassadors for Peace from diverse fields of activity and 20 Peace Councils across the nation. Ambassadors for Peace have had a meaningful impact in terms of conflict resolution. On December 8, 2015, at the 10th anniversary of the launching of UPF in Côte d’Ivoire, there will be a nationwide summit to evaluate the impact of UPF in the nation and to make a strategic and sustainability plan for the future of the organization.