{"id":204480,"date":"2019-02-28T04:24:37","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T09:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=204480"},"modified":"2019-02-28T04:24:37","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T09:24:37","slug":"un-welcomes-africas-goal-of-silencing-the-guns-by-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/28\/un-welcomes-africas-goal-of-silencing-the-guns-by-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"UN welcomes Africa’s goal of ‘silencing the guns’ by 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A resolution adopted unanimously by the council \u201cexpresses support for initiatives aimed at finding African solutions to African problems\u201d while recognizing that other countries can help accelerate progress. (Shutterstock Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.N. Security Council welcomed Africa’s campaign for \u201cSilencing the Guns\u201d on the continent by 2020 and called Wednesday for international support to achieve peace in every country.<\/p>\n

A resolution adopted unanimously by the council \u201cexpresses support for initiatives aimed at finding African solutions to African problems\u201d while recognizing that other countries can help accelerate progress.<\/p>\n

The council noted efforts by the African Union and regional groups to create a conflict-free continent, but it also expressed concern \u201cover the challenging security situation in parts of Africa.\u201d It pointed to threats posed by terrorism, maritime piracy, tensions between farmers and herders, transnational organized crime, and \u201cthe persistent violence perpetrated by insurgents, rebel, and armed groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union’s high representative for the \u201cSilencing the Guns\u201d campaign, said that \u201cnotable progress has been made in preventing, managing and resolving conflicts in Africa.\u201d He cited peace agreements in South Sudan and Central African Republic, elections in Madagascar and Congo, and the renewal of relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n

But Lamamra also told the council that \u201ca number of African countries still remain trapped in a vicious cycle of violent conflict and its deadly consequences.\u201d He didn’t provide any names, but Mali and other countries in the Sahel as well as Congo, Libya, Somalia and Sudan have faced unrest and in some cases attacks by extremists or armed groups.<\/p>\n

Lamamra said crime, terrorism and the proliferation of small arms have been exacerbated by \u201cthe existence of ungoverned spaces\u201d that leave room for illegal activities. He said persistent corruption, illegal financial flows and the illegal exploitation of natural resources, poor governance and bad leadership are also \u201ca major source of instability and conflict in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese challenges underline the urgent need to build a robust culture of conflict prevention,\u201d Lamamra said.<\/p>\n

Rosemary DiCarlo, the U.N. political and peacebuilding chief, agreed that \u201cnumerous governance challenges remain, including marginalization of certain groups from political processes, the prevalence of a ‘winner-take-all’ approach, corruption, and the mismanagement of natural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that \u201csilencing the guns for good requires the participation of all,\u201d saying women’s leadership and participation in the political sphere has slowed.<\/p>\n

DiCarlo stressed that there is reason for optimism. She recalled that just a few days ago, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed to the recent peaceful elections and peace deals saying \u201ca wind of hope is blowing in Africa.\u201d She noted that \u201cacross the continent, entrepreneurship is up, access to education has increased and child mortality has declined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Africans are leading the way, DiCarlo said, but to silence the guns \u201cit is vital that the international community lend its support to Africa in achieving this objective.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.N. Security Council welcomed Africa’s campaign for \u201cSilencing the Guns\u201d on the continent by 2020 and called Wednesday for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":5954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-edith-m-lederer","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}