UN official urges Africa to prevent conflicts which could lead to atrocities

Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-27 03:34:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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KIGALI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The UN secretary General's Special Adviser for Prevention of Genocide Monday urged African countries against poor leadership, corruption to prevent conflicts which may lead to atrocities.

Preventing wars and armed conflict requires state and non-state actors even at individual level, said Adama Dieng at a regional conference on challenges and humanitarian consequences of urban armed conflict around the globe held in Rwanda's capital city Kigali.

"We need to address the issue of governance and corruption, we need to put prevention at the top, and we also need to link prevention to development and focus on governance and democracy," Dieng told the meeting.

"You cannot have peace and security if you don't address development and vice versa. Armed conflicts will not be over unless Africans are responsible and honest," he said.

He appealed to countries to adopt and comply with the international laws and the Geneva conventions, adding that conflicts are increasingly waging in cities with devastating consequences, including losses of human lives, and destruction of key infrastructure such as water system, education and health facilities.

He said all these challenges require changes in countries' strategic thinking on how to deal with them.

Today, it is no longer states that are exclusively engaged in armed conflicts, participation of non-actors in African conflicts continues to be a challenge, he added.

The meeting was convened by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to discuss the challenges and humanitarian consequences of a growing phenomenon of urban armed conflict around the globe.

While the most intensive urban fighting in recent years have been taking place mainly in the Middle East, the African continent has also experienced a shift from rural to urban armed conflicts, a trend that is likely to last in view of the growing urbanization, according to experts.

Pascal Cuttat, the Head of ICRC Delegation in Kigali said hostilities in armed conflicts are increasingly taking place in big and densely populated cities, posing serious legal, military and humanitarian challenges.

"African cities like Bangui, Juba or Mogadishu have been affected. There is an urgent need to limit consequences for better protection of civilians," said Cuttat.

Participants included national and regional practitioners and experts from the humanitarian, academic, diplomatic, and military communities to share their experience and views on the issue of urban conflicts.

This conference is part of a series of conference on "war in cities" that the ICRC launched in December 2016, in Geneva as well as in regions affected by the urbanization of armed conflict and violence, with the aim of identifying and discussing current trends and their implications for humanitarian action.

It aimed to enhance global awareness about urban warfare and develop a reflection on how national and international actors should adopt a multidisciplinary approach to improve the conditions of the civilian population in world in general and in African cities in particular.

Up to 70 percent of the world's population will be living in cities by 2050.

The meeting took stock of past urban armed conflicts in African cities, reflecting on their drivers and humanitarian implications.

It also explored operational and policy responses adapted to the needs of people affected by such conflicts.

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