Mancham to take part in Comesa retreat of the elders and the wise in Angola

“What has taken place on the African continent must be viewed against the challenge of eradicating poverty and social inequity.”

“What has taken place on the African continent must be viewed against the challenge of eradicating poverty and social inequity.”

Seychelles’ founding President, James R. Mancham, will be leaving Seychelles on Sunday September 6, 2015 to attend the Third Retreat of the Pan-African Network of the Wise (Panwise) which will take place in Luanda, Angola from September 8-9, 2015.

The retreat will be held within the spirit of the theme “Silencing the guns by 2020 – promotion of cultures of peace in Africa.”

It is to be noted that Sir James was this year re-elected unanimously as a member of the Council of Elders and the Wise of Comesa (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) with the support and on the recommendation of the government of Seychelles. The election took place at a meeting of African leaders held earlier this year at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

During his first term of office as a member of the Committee of Elders of Comesa, Sir James had the distinguished honor of leading a mediation mission to Kinshasa and Kigali in order to avert a threatening war between the Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Among other notable achievements is his nomination by the chairman of the AU to represent the AU at the Egyptian presidential election which followed the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

This year’s Panwise retreat is expected to review in an in-depth manner what took place in 2014 which brought considerable progress in the institutionalization of different components of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) as well as the African Governance Architecture (AGA). It has been a period of considerable economic growth and rising income which has also seen improvements in macro-economic management, governance progress, stability as well as post-conflict economic recovery in many member states.

Sadly it has also been a period scarred by the escalation of high intensity conflict as well as the reversal of some key peace processes. There has been the sad and serious Ebola virus problem in various member states as well as the problem of increased terrorism, piracy and trans-national organized crime on African soil.

According to Sir James what took place on the continent last year has revealed that economic growth and rising income are not of fundamental importance if they do not lead to poverty alleviation and equitable and just socio-economic development.

The opening ceremony of the conference will take place on September 8 with remarks by Ambassador Smail Chergui, Commissioner for Peace and Security of the AU; Georges Chikoti, Minister for External Relations of Angola, who is chair of the AU Peace and Security Council for the month of September 2015; Ambassador Haile Menkerios, under Secretary General of the AU and head of the UN liaison office to the AU; Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chair of the AU and President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of the Republic of Angola.

The opening ceremony will be immediately followed by a high level interactive session moderated by Professor Lakhda Brahimi, who served as the UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria until May 14, 2014.

Sir James is among those scheduled to speak at this session alongside Georges Chikoti, Minister for External Relations of Angola and Edem Kodjo, a former prime minister of Togo who was the Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) from 1978 to 1983.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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