President Yoweri Museveni and former Zanzibar President H.E Dr. Abeid Amani Karume have yesterday launched the Global Peace Leadership conference mobile App and website that will enable over 50 million people from all over the world to scan the QR code and access conference topics.
“I heard about Rev. Moon but I never met him. I have heard that his son Dr. Hyun Jin P. Moon is involved in global peace. We support his efforts especially when he talks about structured peace because peace is an end product and a result of many things, which if not put in place, you may not get peace or you get vulnerable peace which will slide back and which is not sustained,” he said shortly after the launch at State House Entebbe.
The Global Peace Leadership Conference will be held between 1st – 3rd August, 2018 in Uganda under the theme, “Moral and Innovative Leadership: New Models for sustainable Peace and development”.
The President said without several efforts in place including moral uprightness, education, business, job creation, and unity in diversity, there can’t be sustainable peace.
“It is important to anatomize peace, moral uprightness for example is important because corrupt people can’t sustain peace for long. How can we also prevent group chauvinism where one group dominates others? The website will show you the different elements of global peace. The conference is an analysis of this, getting the best practices around the world in one place,” he said.
The President pledged support towards the Global Peace Leadership conference and suggested a small team be formed to follow up and implement decisions from the conference. “It’s my pleasure on behalf of the government of Uganda to support this effort. I congratulate the GPL for thinking this idea and we have launched it and we look forward to the conference,’’ he said.
On what the regional leaders are doing to stop the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Museveni said IGAD under the chairmanship of Congo Brazerville is mediating efforts for peace in the DRC. He added however that conflicts in Congo center around conflicts of identity, tribalism and religious sectarianism coupled with a weak state structure where a country has no army and depends on the United Nations.
“We can’t invite the UN to fight our wars; that is a vote of no confidence. How can people from Bangladesh and Uruguay come to die in the forests in Africa? The element of ideology is lacking,” he said.
On Climate Change, President Museveni said advanced Countries have contributed most to global warming through the production of greenhouse gases.
He said the main problem in Africa was encroaching on Forests and wetlands.
“Rain from the ocean makes up 60% while the other 40% is from our wetlands. We must protect our wetlands. We have created a fund for compensation for people we have convinced to get out of the wetlands. We don’t want to use force but persuasion,” he said.
The former President of Zanzibar Dr. Amani Abeid Karume expressed his gratitude to President Museven for being part of the launch and congratulated him for the exemplary leadership and for accepting to host the conference. He said that Africa today calls for its moral and innovative leaders to arise up to the occasion and work together to find solutions that will address her challenges of conflicts, violence, corruption among others by increasing social cohesion, unity in diversity, peace and economic development and collaborations among all sectors for a common vision of collective peace and development.
The Vice President for the Strategic Partnerships, Global Peace Foundation David Caprara said the leadership peace convening will feature 1000 multi-sector leaders from African parliaments, business, faith, women, youth, journalists and other sectors.
“We chose the theme, together with the African Leadership Mission, chaired by former Zanzibar President Amani Karume and the Uganda national Organizing committee to unleash catalytic solutions required for peace and an African-led renaissance targeting the UN 2030 goals on peace and development as a yardstick to measure progress,” he said.
The conference hopes to increase social cohesion, unity and economic development in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa, push for a multi-sector engagement and investment in a common regional vision for collective peace and development among other things.
The ceremony was attended among others; by the Prime Minister of Uganda Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda, 2nd Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Moses Ali, several ministers and religious leaders and a delegation from Zanzibar.
