Armed Conflicts Frustrate Peace Initiatives, Says ECOWAS
From Ahamefula Ogbu in Port Harcourt, 10.19.2008 Thisday newspaper
President of the Economic Community of West African States Commi-ssion, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, yesterday warned parties in the various conflicts in the region to sheathe their swords, saying armed conflicts will never lead to the development of the region.
The ECOWAS boss, who identified poor resource management and exclusion from development as major causes of conflicts in the region, said hostility is antithetical to conflict resolution.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the programme on sustainable development put together by the Rivers State Sustainable Agency, he appealed to all parties to the conflict to lay down their arms and cease all forms of hostilities for development to thrive.
He named Casamance region of Senegal, Northern regions of Ghana, Niger and Mali as areas with high incidence of violence owing to agitation for development and equitable distribution of resources.
According to him, the route to lasting solution to the problem remains the execution of positive and developmental programmes by governments at all tiers in fulfillment of their social contract with the electorate.
On the part of those who have resorted to arms struggle to press home their demands, he advised them to drop their weapons and cooperate with efforts to ensure that all wrongs were corrected as it was impossible to develop a conflict-ridden area. “One would discover that the underlying causes of most of these conflicts are traceable to natural resources management or lack of inclusiveness. Much needs to be done by governments at the state and local levels to ensure that the dividends of democracy and good governance are felt at the grassrootslâ€, he observed.
The ECOWAS Commission boss commended the Rivers State government as having started out in the right direction by discussing the issues and called for urgent empowerment of the youths.
Apart form empowerment; he said the state should also address the issue of poverty and infrastructural development through adequate application of resources and execution of people oriented-programmes.
Recalling that the state had been noted for its peaceful atmosphere in the past, Chambers regretted that much have changed as the state is now known for the negative things like illegal oil bunkering, other forms of criminality and proliferation of weapons and use of youths for violent purposes..
He expressed the hope that the creation of Ministry of Employment Generation and Empowerment as well as the federal effort of creating a Ministry for the Niger Delta would come with enough solutions that the region would witness peace and development.
He promised to do whatever he could to ensure return of peace not only to Rivers State and the Niger Delta region but to other conflict zones in the region. He prescribed conflict prevention strategies, which he said operates on two planks of youth empowerment and good governance which ushers in development.
