April 16, 2012 (BAHIR-DAR, ETHIOPIA) –
Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, criticised African leaders who by rejecting diversity cause insecurity pointing to Sudan as a prime example of how failing to manage political, religious and ethnic differences can result in conflict.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter mediated a peace accord between Sudan and Uganda on Dec. 8, 1999, in which the two countries agreed to take steps to restore diplomatic relations and promote peace in the region. Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir (left) shakes the hand of Uganda President Yoweri Museveni. Kenya President Daniel arap Moi and President Carter witnessed the signing. (Photo: Carter Center)
Sudan has been at war with itself for most of its independence after colonial power Britain left the country politically and economically in the hands of a small elite in Khartoum. Since 1956 various governments of differing ideologies have neglected the country’s peripheral areas causing conflicts in South Sudan, Darfur and other areas.
Speaking at a conference on African security in Ethiopia, Museveni said that the attempt by a ruling class in Khartoum to declare the whole of what was Africa’s largest country an Arab and Islamic state was illustration of how not to foster peace.
In July last year South Sudan separated from the rest of Sudan after a six year peace deal failed to convince South Sudanese voters in a referendum that they would be better off ruled by Khartoum.
Since South Sudan seceded Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir has indicted that he wants the country’s new constitution to have a stronger link to strict Islamic Shari’a Law and insisted in a speech last year there will be no space for cultural and religious diversity.
Although other issues have played major roles in Sudan’s conflicts, identity has been a key issue for rebels who have fought the government in the western Darfur region since 2003 and in the southern border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile since last year.
Identity was also one of the main factors behind Sudan’s north-south conflicts, which ultimately resulted in the country’s partition.
Museveni said: "If the African leaders and those who love the continent do not address ways of ensuring economic prosperity of the continent and her people and only engage in the African people’s diversity, ethnicity and all forms of their social and religious differences and regard these as the main cause of insecurity to the continent, then they either don’t know the continent well or they are enemies of the African people."
The Ugandan president argued that issues of ethnicity should only be addressed in cases where fanatical patriotism occurs or at times when the leading political class exercises sectarianism, as he says Khartoum’s government’s have in the case of Sudan.
Museveni, was speaking at the first High-Level Forum on Security in Africa, which was held in the Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar from April 14-15.
The forum’s organiser, Professor Andrias Eshete from Addis Ababa University’s Peace and Security Institute, said the objective of the forum is to promote dialogue as a fundamental means to resolve African conflicts between heads of state, politicians, civil society, academics and other representatives.
According to Eshete, the peace forum intends to pave the way for effective “African-led solutions” to the continents peace and security challenges. It was underscored in the forum that diversity in Africa is a strength, and should not be a source of conflict.
Forum chairperson, the former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, in his address said that there had been a decline of conflicts in Africa and called for more collective efforts to build a united continent.
The former chairman of the African Union said: “For many years the African continent has been ravaged by wars and conflicts. In recent years, however, extended thanks to the efforts of the African Union, regional economic communities, member states and partners, we have seen the number of conflicts decline, even though there continues to be flare ups in different parts of the continent."
The last month has not been a good one for security and peace in Africa:
• Sudan and South Sudan are moving dangerous close to all-out war as fighting continues along their contested-oil-rich border;
• A coup in Guinea-Bissau has brought a military junta to power;
• Mogadishu was rocked by a suicide bomber at an event attended by senior officials from Somalia’s transitional government;
• And in Mali Tuareg rebels wanting an independent state are now in control of the north of the country.
In his key note, Obasanjo said diversity was a source of conflict in Africa because “leaders fail to identify those diversities, accept them and attend to them in their form”. He called on African leaders to ensure recognition and respect all forms of diversity in order to promote peace and stability.
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, said at the occasion that Africa’s 54 nations should firmly exercise a political system that entertains diversity of ethnicity, languages, religion and culture equally. He stressed the need for political will and committed leadership to avert security challenges in Africa and also to realise prosperity and development.
The forum was organized by the Addis Ababa University of Peace and Security Institute and will be held annually from now on, according to organisers.
(ST)
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