The West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP), has called for immediate measures to be taken to bring to an end conditions that create ground for violence to fester, stressing that “Africa must be working towards the prevention of the escalation of violence and destruction rather than reacting to its outbreaks”.

This information was contained in a statement issued by its Gambia office as part of activities marking the celebration of the International Day of Peace. The day provides a unique platform to highlight the work of justice and peace with collective efforts to build a democratic and non-violence culture in West Africa. “Urgent actions are required to minimise mistrust and build confidence towards the electoral processes, participatory democracy and management of state resources,” the statement added.

In light of the above, the WANEP joins the African community of the civil society organisations, the African Union and ECOWAS to advocate and appeal for peace and justice in West Africa and Africa at large. It called on all the citizens of the sub-region who express their grievances through act of violent extremism in the form of religious fanaticism, ideological orientation, secessionist bid, amongst others, to embrace dialogue and join in the efforts of solving problems as a means of articulating their concerns and ensuring the stability of the state.

The WANEP statement further called on those involved in all acts of ethnic, chieftancy, land, communal and other forms of intra-state conflicts to cease fire and bring their concerns to a negotiation table; and urge the concern states to provide the environment that will ensure such pondering and meditative actions, which it said has for the past two decades made the West African sub-region suffer from destructive violent conflicts that have produced profound human tragedies requiring massive humanitarian and peacekeeping interventions.

“Beyond the numerous appeals for peace and various peace campaigns, restoring public confidence that the pursuance of justice shall be firmed and fair to all with professionalism and impartiality is also critical. On this International Day of Peace, WANEP also re-echoes and fully shares in the message of the African Union on the slogan that 'Make peace happen' and the commitment of our leaders when they declared. We are determined to deal once and for all with the scourge of conflict and violence on our continent acknowledging our shortcomings and errors, committing our resources and our best people and missing no opportunity to push forward the agenda of conflict prevention, peace-making, peace-keeping and post-conflict reconstruction.

We, as leaders, simply cannot bequeath the burden of conflicts to the next generation of Africans. The West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) will deploy all efforts to support this noble cause. The challenge of attaining peace, security, stability across the entire African continent is clearly an undertaking that should be sustained for many years,” it stated.

“The International Day of Peace, ” according to the statement, “offers an unprecedented opportunity for African citizen, as well as African institutions, civil society organisations in partnership with governments and the international community, to celebrate our accomplishments and to review current efforts to peace building on the continent with a view to strengthen these and where appropriate launch concrete new initiatives for peace and security as noted by the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon when he said, “I urge everyone, between now and 21st September, to think about how they can contribute. Let us work together to ensure that the road from Rio leads us to sustainable development, sustainable peace and a secure future for all”.