AU Declares 2010 ‘African Year of Peace’

(PANA)--The African Union (AU) has declared the Year 2010 the African Year of Peace, reiterating its commitment to further push the peace process in Africa, where millions of people are killed an d displaced due to civil strife.

‘The month of January 2010 marks the beginning of the Year of Peace and Security in Africa’, the African Union Commission said in a statement obtained by PANA on Sunday. AU Commission Chairperson (AUC) Jean Ping pledged the commitment of the entire Commission towards intensifying its efforts in the area of peace and security and appealed to African Governments, people, media and civil society organisations to take advantage of the Year of Peace and Security to re-dedicate themselves to the realisation of the objective of a conflicts free continent.

The Year of Peace and Security will be an opportunity for African people and leaders as well as African institutions in partnership with the international community, to review current efforts at peace on the continent, with a view to strengthening them, the AUC said.

The plan of action includes launching new initiatives for the promotion of peace and security. The Commission said it intended to initiate a number of activities, some of these symbolic, including outreach activities aimed at communicating and mobilising the African public throughout the Year. Some of these initiatives will consist of efforts by relevant AU policy organs to speed up the resolution of existing conflicts and crises and consolidate peace where it has been achieved.

The launching of the Year of Peace follows the 31 August, 2009 call by African leaders meeting in Tripoli, Libya, to declare 2010 Africa’s Year of Peace and Security, calling upon the Commission to prepare a list of interventions it would take to tackle threats to peace.

Armed conflicts in Africa kill thousands of people every year, creating humanitarian disasters, which wipe out livelihoods and wealth that ordinary people have worked hard to accumulate over their lifetimes. The conflicts also make sustainable economic development impossible

The Year of Peace will give an added momentum to peace and security efforts on the continent, giving greater visibility to ongoing and past efforts by the AU on the ground to speed up the implementation of commitments made by African countries in various treaties. The message for all the activities that will be carried out and the advocacy programme is, quite simply, ‘Make Peace Happen,’ the Commission said.

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