Building for Peace in Africa

SENEGAL

The political context in Senegal is marked by the holding of presidential elections, which took place in absolute calm. There is widespread support for change and pan-Africanism. It’s a breath of fresh hope for the country and the continent. The Senegal Chapter of World BEYOND War was not, of course, politically involved, but we are delighted to have new interlocutors to help lead the country towards lasting peace for all.

The Senegal chapter has a new Co-Coordinator: Baye Gorgui. This, too, brings a new energy to our team.

About Our campaign: “Get your troops out of Djibouti!”

We would like to inform you of two upcoming actions within this campaign:

1 – April 10: a webinar to explain in more detail why the Djibouti bases should be closed.

During this webinar, you can also become a “messenger of peace” by signing up to drop off petitions and thousands of signatures at an embassy near you.

2 – May 29 & 30: first “delivery” of signatures to the embassies of the 8 countries with a base in Djibouti.

This is a GLOBAL action! We’ll be delivering the signed petitions to the embassies of these 8 countries EVERYWHERE in the world, (almost) at the same time.

We already have peace ‘’messengers’’ in Africa, Canada and Japan. Become a messenger for your country or city. Simply reply to this message and tell us this is what you’d like to do.

Link to register for the webinar and to follow the progress of the campaign:
https://actionnetwork.org/events/webinar-close-bases-djibouti

Link to the petition to be shared widely: https://worldbeyondwar.org/fr/djibouti

Thank you for your support!

SOUTH SUDAN

The South Sudan security situation this month of March has been relatively calm. Although there have been reports of violence in Jonglei and Lake State that were triggered by tribal armed youth groups, it has been a major security threat and has disrupted the peaceful cohesion of the communities in those areas. However, the government and local and international partners put together measures to help address these issues and bring communities back to peaceful cohesion.

Some actions taking place in this context:

• The peace conferences were conducted in Tambura, in western Equatoria State, this month. The conference garners church leaders, government representatives, communities’ leaders, and representatives of organizations.
• Peace debates were conducted at the primary, secondary, and community levels. The topic of this debate was “Peace begins with you. Through this program, we were able to reach out to 3000 people, including people with disabilities.
• We engaged in the partner’s peace coordination meeting, which was coordinated by the national Ministry of Peace Building with the support of the United Nations development program.
• The traditional authority and the young people were engaged in the South Sudan peace agreement, especially in the constitution-making and election processes.

Since the World WEYOND War Chapter in the country is just starting, not a lot has been achieved so far, but then members manage to engage fragment of young people and women on #Know Your Rights program. This program intends to educate communities on their right to peace building and conflict resolution. In addition, lobbying with the stakeholders started on the Women, Peace and Security and Youth, Peace and Security agendas. Although there are setbacks due to the difficulties of the process, there is hope that engagement will continue with the stakeholders in the coming month with the support of the national Ministry of Peace building and South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission.

We are in the process of launching the South Sudan Chapter of World BEYOND War.

Photo of the coordinator Onen Charles George:

MALI

Insecurity prevails in some parts of the country, and anti-terrorist operations continue in northern and central Mali. Two terrorist leaders have been captured by the Direction of Information and Public Relations of the Armed Forces, one a bomb-maker and the other in charge of the Zaka. At the same time, violence remains a frequent problem in schools. The Association of Students of Mali, a student organization in Mali, is accused of being responsible for numerous violent incidents and violence in schools. The government announced its dissolution this month following a confrontation between rival clans which resulted in the death of one student and several serious injuries.

To enable members of the World Beyond Mali Chapter to play a leading role in the search for peace, a virtual meeting was held on March 11, 2024. The meeting brought together participants from chapters in Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, Togo and volunteers from Mali to outline WBW’s missions, discuss challenges facing WBW’s French-speaking chapters and training. Thanks to these discussions, the process of translating the contents of the 101 Organizing training course into French was initiated.

Mali is in the process of setting up peace clubs at university level. Another virtual meeting was held on March 26, 2024, to discuss peace clubs. The meeting was attended by chapter coordinators from Mali, Senegal, Cameroon and Burundi. The aim was to learn from the experiences of Burundi and Cameroon in setting up peace clubs. As a result of this discussion, a brochure will be produced, which the Mali chapter will use to establish peace clubs.