Zimbabwe: 'Empower Women, Youths'

September 25, 2007 – (AllAfrica) There is need to empower and youths in society if sustainable peace is to be attained, former Mozambican president Mr Joachim Chissano has said. Mr Chissano said failure to empower the poor members of society like women and youths would be a source of conflict in any society.

Mr Chissano said this yesterday at Africa University in Mutare where he gave a keynote address during the fourth annual commemoration of the legacy of former United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold. "Peace cannot be durable if it does not involve all people, particularly, the most disadvantaged in the society. In this regard, it is important to empower women and youths, and ensure a gender-balanced development.

"Any development that excludes some members of the society is likely to be a source of conflict and tension within the society. "So, in promoting popular participation in development, as a way of preventing conflicts, priority should be given to women and the youths," said Mr Chissano.

He said colonialism and neo-colonialism affected nation-building in Africa and undermined efforts to integrate the national and continental unity. Mr Chissano said colonial regimes promoted unequal development within a given country and created huge disparities between and among ethnic groups within a nation. "In fact, the colonial regimes distorted the natural process of nation building, by pitting ethnic groups against each other, which led to expansionist policies and desire for a territorial conquest.

"We can therefore safely conclude that colonialism and neo-colonialism impacted negatively on the efforts of nation building in Africa and undermined efforts towards integration and national and continental unity," he said He described Dag Hammarskjold as a visionary leader who was never detracted by fear of death when performing his duties.

Mr Chissano said Dag Hammarskjold coined the principle of preventive diplomacy to suggest that prevention was better than cure. "That it was only through prevention of conflicts that the world could ensure collective security for all; and that with prevention it was possible to make peace and build peace," he said.

He said if Africa were able to make optimum use of the concepts of collective security, preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace building, Africa would have been a different continent today.

From:http://allafrica.com/stories/200709250190.html