Online ReporterGeorge Maponga in MIDRAND, South Africa
PAN AFRICAN (PAP) president Chief Fortune Charumbira says the continental legislative body has a crucial role to play in solving conflicts in flashpoints across Africa.
Speaking at a retreat of the continental legislature and the AU’s Peace and Security Council(PSC) at Idriss Ndele Moussa Plenary Hall in Midrand on Thursday, Chief Charumbira decried the price of raging conflicts that were choking Africa.
By being direct representatives of the people, PAP should loom large in the quest for solutions to African problems.
The PAP president says it is disheartening to note that while the AU has set 2030 as a target to completely silence the guns in Africa, conflicts were worsening.
He singled out the Horn of Africa, Libya, Sudan and South Sudan and the eastern DRC as some of the nagging flashpoints of conflict on the continent with no hope for solutions.
PAP and the PSC could work hand in glove more often in pursuit of solutions to conflicts blighting Africa.
“The collaboration between PAP and the Peace and Security Council has been very limited to say the least,” he lamented.
“The participation of people’s elected representatives (PAP) must not be limited to election observation missions only but must include the whole gamut of the conflict resolution process,” said Chief Charumbira.
According to the PAP president, it is worrying that, as per December 2024 findings, there were more than 123 million people who were displaced by conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa.
Findings also showed that out of 58 states classified as fragile globally, 35 of them are domiciled in sub-Saharan Africa.
He finished by calling for PAP as a body of direct people’s representatives to be included in initiatives such as peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction, early warning and preventive diplomacy and capacity building programmes in the fight to stem conflicts and assuage their effects on the African populace.
daniel chigunwe