The Challenge of Building peace in Africa

27 September 2002, conference report (0.3 MB)

African Students' Conference 2002

An estimated number of 200 people, almost exclusively African students in the Netherlands, sat through the conference at the ISS in The Hague. The conference, for the first time, was organised by the United Nations of Youth Foundation and the African Students Committee, supported by the Global Coalition for Africa and financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Working Group Overview

The following four Workshops were organised during the Conference:

1. Peace Building
   Facilitators: Mr Mamoud El Zain Hamid, PhD student, ISS; Dr P. B. Mihyo, Lecturer ISS; Mrs Rosette Muzigo Morrison (LLM) Int. High Court of Justice; Mr Juan Salgado (MA), UNOY; Itziar Aparicio San José (MA), UNOY; Ms Helena ter Ellen, Non-Violent Peace Force
2. Good Governance
   Facilitators: Dr A. Mohamoud, Lecturer, UvA; Dr C.A.B. Olowu , Lecturer ISS; Mr Nicholas Awortwi, PhD Student, ISS
3. Poverty Alleviation
   Facilitators: Ms Pandu Hailonga, PhD student, ISS; Ms Prossy Isubikalu, PhD student, Wageningen; Mr Victor Selorme, MA student Univ. Nijmegen
4. Lessons Learnt/Local Capacities for Peace
   Facilitators: Mrs Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, Policy Coordinator Response to Conflict/ Coalition for Peace in Africa, Mombassa, Kenya; Mr Merra Tegegne Melesse, PhD student, ISS; Mrs C. Roeper, ICCO and Jean Ives Bonzi, PLAN Nederland

Speakers

The keynote address was presented by Dr Timothy Murithi, Programme Officer, Programme in Peacemaking and Preventive Diplomacy UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Geneva. The title of his paper was Peacebuilding in Africa: The Challenges and Strategies for the 21st Century. This was followed by another speaker, Mr Fred van der Kraaij, former Senior Economic Advisor to the Global Coalition for Africa, on behalf of Mr M. Ould-Abdallah, Executive Secretary GCA. He based his paper on Building Peace in Africa: Actors and instruments in, during and after violent conflict.
Mr Jonathan Wolsey, Policy Analyst, European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD) Brussels who based his subject on Aid, Poverty Reduction and Peacebuilding: a strategy for countries with poor governance.
Dr Awil Mohamoud, Lecturer of the University of Amsterdam spoke about Good governance in post conflict situations. What does it mean to the people?
Dr Remi Ajibewa, Training and Research Coordinator for Democracy and Development (CDD), London based his paper on Poverty Alleviation: reappraisal of strategies for poverty reduction and approaches per sector.
Mrs Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, Policy Coordinator Response to Conflict/Coalition for Peace in Africa, Mombassa, Kenya elaborated on Lessons learned in peace-building and local capacities for peace: a case study of Wahir in Kenya.
Mrs Corrie Roeper, Program Officer, African Continental Relations, ICCO (Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation), The Netherlands, spoke about Lessons learned in peace-building and local capacities for peace from a donor perspective.