Prominent Leaders of East Africa During Pioneering Regional Conference Create Two-Year Action Campaign on Identity-Based Conflict

Zanzibar, Tanzania, August 5, 2015 (Newswire.com) - The 2015 Global Peace Leadership Conference (GPLC) was held at the Melia Hotel to examine and promote innovative interfaith and youth engagement strategies for addressing identity-based conflicts.  The pioneering conference addressed the threat of religious radicalism in the region and beyond, as well as the role of faith leaders and the business community in ending identity-based conflict. It was held July 21-24 and co-convened by the Global Peace Foundation, East Africa Community, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Interreligious Council for Peace Tanzania and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.  Other partners in this significant gathering include the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa, ZAYEDESA, and the Clouds Media Group.

The East African region has witnessed an alarming rise of intra-state and interstate conflicts in recent decades, which has taken a huge toll in terms of human lives lost, the suffering of refugees and internally displaced people, and the destruction of the social fabric, physical infrastructure, and natural resources of the region, in particular within its coastal strip. The 2015 GPLC East Africa successfully addressed these issues by discussing best practices, proven models, and creating a two-year action campaign to curb identity-based conflict; specifically, there is a strong desire to facilitate interfaith partnerships in the region, based on universal principles and shared values, in order to reduce identity-based violence, particularly building upon the 2014 Kigali Declaration of interreligious leaders.

"We are a tolerant people who resonate with the Global Peace Foundation message that all humankind are indeed One Family under God,"

President Shein, said in his speech delivered by the Second Vice President of Zanzibar

Prominent leaders of East Africa spoke to the conference assembly, which was more than 500 participants strong, starting with former President of Zanzibar Amani Abeid Karume, who announced that that Zanzibar offers a “real example of trust in bringing peace” in the East African region, and that the increased hostilities in East Africa and the broader region have led to “absolute poverty and despair.”

Furthermore, the son of the Zanzibar’s first president and co-chairman of the African Leadership Mission, His Excellency Karume argued that the growing instability in countries such as South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Congo not only impact the victims directly, but also threaten other countries who must accommodate refugees, while also causing psychological trauma for generations.

Keynote speaker and Zanzibar’s current President Ali Mohamed Shein said the African continent can benefit from the leadership and partnerships generated in this important journey for peace.  “We are a tolerant people who resonate with the Global Peace Foundation message that all humankind are indeed One Family under God,” President Shein said in his speech delivered by the Second Vice President of Zanzibar.

Addressing the Opening Plenary of the conference, Former Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Amolo Odinga stated that “Glaring disparities in economic wellbeing among ethnic or regional groups and the consequent marginalisation of certain regions and communities are among the root causes of insecurity and conflict.” The former Prime Minister and the Kenyan Ambassador to Tanzania also spoke to conference participants.

The conference roundtables all delivered passionate debate and discussion, including the business forum, which uniquely brought together multiple stakeholders – Regional Economic Communities, Faith leaders, Private Sector, Academia, Governments and civil society organizations  -- to deliberate an issue that appears both extremely complex as it is hugely simple, for there is strong and sufficient data from the region that illustrates conclusively the nexus between peace, businesses and development --including the cost  of recent series of terrorist attacks to the tourism industry in Kenya and their negative impact on the economies. Leaders and partners of the conference all committed to addressing the identity-based conflict that exists in the region. 

With more than 70% of its population below the age of 30, the East Africa Region is emerging as the youngest block in the world. Thus, the education and engagement of this upcoming generation will increasingly define and shape the regional landscape in terms of peace, security and development.

In this age of competing identities and interests, the youth of East Africa is in need of a common vision, universal principles and shared values from which to build lasting peace and prosperity.  The Global Peace Youth Summit (GPYS) serves as a platform where young people from the East Africa region can connect with each other based on a moral vision rooted in our diverse spiritual traditions, and seeks to engage a new generation of moral, innovative leaders and partners to build a world of one family under God.

To achieve these objectives, and as part of 2015 GPLC East Africa, the youth forum actively and passionately focused on:

●          Identity-based conflict reduction through interfaith partnerships

●          Moral, innovative leadership

●          Youth entrepreneurship, leadership, and service

For more information on the event, Global Peace Leadership Conferences, or the Global Peace Foundation, please contact media@globalpeace.org

Website: GPLC East Africa 2015

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