Malawian President Dr, Lazarus Chakwera says Peace, Safety and Security are a prerequisite for the attainment of socio –economic development and as such, the pockets of violence and armed conflict that persist in parts of the continent, are a threat to the country’s collective prosperity.
President Dr. Chakwera said disagreements in any situation are inevitable, Malawi’s experience historically and recently is that collaborative ways of settling disputes are more productive than combating ones, saying Malawi champion values such as contact and dialogue in the Peace and Security Council.
He said Malawi in support of the proposal to extend the mandate of the program of Silencing the Guns and the Roadmap beyond 2020 for a period of 10 years (2021 -2030) with periodic review every two years considering that its objectives have not been fully realized.
Speaking during the virtual 14th Extra ordinary session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government on Silencing the Guns, President Dr. Chakwera said Malawi has proposed to the African Union (AU) Commission to concentrate on the control of import, circulation and availability of arms since these contribute significantly to conflicts on the continent.
“Malawi is of the view that Regional Economic Communities (RECs) should serve as effective building blocks of the AU and bridges between the AU and Member States in achieving the objectives of Silencing the Guns Agenda through the development of regional action plans,” said President Dr. Chakwera.
He said Malawi is calling on the international community to work closely with African States, the AU and RECs to eradicate conditions that germinate the seeds of violence saying this should be done by among other means, supporting the AUs and RECs peace building efforts as well as stopping weapon flows to the continent.
In 1963, the forefathers in the names of Emperor Haile Selassie, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnandi Azikiwe, Jomo Kenyatta met in Ethiopia to form the organization of African Unity (OAU) with the main objective of uniting all African countries as one.
The last forefather, Brother leader, Muammar Gadaffi fought hard to form one strong African continent that led to the birth of African Union with a strong vision of creating United States of Africa to have one strong army, currency and a Central Bank that Africa move independently away from colonial masters that colonized it.
Today, Africa is faced with wars of poverty, corruption and lawlessness, people fighting amongst themselves which has seen the colonizers coming back supplying weapons inform of guns and ammunitions flooding the whole of the African continent.
