Online Reporter
Mukudzei Chingwere in LUANDA, Angola
VICE President Constantino Chiwenga has called for stronger African institutions, greater political commitment and increased domestic financing to confront the continent’s increasingly complex peace and security challenges.
He made the call while addressing the 21st Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African union (AU) on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa, here yesterday.
VP Chiwenga said Africa’s peace and security environment was being shaped by a combination of internal and external pressures, including resource competition, terrorism, violent extremism and rapid technological change.
Peace preservation failures, said the VP, were devastating the continent resulting in loss of lives and livelihoods, displacement, humanitarian crises and destruction of critical infrastructure.
“Zimbabwe acknowledges that Africa’s peace and security environment is becoming increasingly complex amid shifting internal and external pressures,” said VP Chiwenga.
He said resource competition, violent extremism, terrorism and technological evolution are triggering new conflicts on the continent.
These effects include loss of life and livelihoods, displacements, humanitarian crises and destruction of infrastructure.
“This Summit provides an opportunity to strengthen our collective institutions, ensuring that they are effective to prevent conflict, address its root causes, resolve disputes peacefully, and secure durable peace for future generations.
“The architecture is in place. We must now translate political commitments into timely action, and policy into measurable peace outcomes,” said VP Chiwenga.
The Vice President said the Luanda summit presented an important opportunity for African countries to strengthen continental institutions and ensure they were capable of preventing conflicts, addressing their underlying causes and peacefully resolving disputes.
He said Africa had made significant progress over the past two decades in developing a continental peace and security architecture, supported by mechanisms dealing with conflict prevention, mediation, governance and post-conflict reconstruction.
However, VP Chiwenga said the existence of these mechanisms was not enough unless African countries translated their political commitments into concrete action.
Angolan President João Lourenço said there could be no sustainable development or meaningful improvement in the living standards of Africans without peace, security and stability.
“There can’t be no sustainable development, effective economic integration and improvement in the living conditions of our populations without peace, security, stability and harmony amongst people,” said President Lourenco.
He called for the continent’s existing conflict-prevention mechanisms to be made more effective and urged the summit to produce practical decisions.
The position was reinforced by the AU Chairperson, President Evaristo Ndayishimiye of Burundi, who said Africa’s peace and security architecture required urgent reform and stronger implementation.
He pointed to conflicts and emerging security threats across the continent, including terrorism, violent extremism, piracy, transnational crime and the plight of migrants.
“The emerging threats of terrorism, violent extremism, piracy, and the ill-treatment of migrants are the realities of our continent.
“We have to speed up the reform processes supported by unflinching political will of our member states,” said President Ndayishimiye.
