Zanzibar (Tanzania), May 21 {No.99-113} - The UNESCO-organised Pan-African Women's Conference on a Culture of Peace ended in Zanzibar Thursday evening after four days of testimonies, presentations and debate, with the adoption of the "Zanzibar Declaration on Women and a Culture of Peace" - which launches a Pan-African women's movement for peace - and the "Women's Agenda for a Culture of Peace in Africa."

As Salma Salmin Amour - wife of the President of Zanzibar, Salmin Amour - called on the first ladies of Africa, and on all other women, to sensitise their husbands to the culture of peace and convince them not to wage war anymore, an ovation broke out in the conference room. "We don't want war in Africa," she declared, "Nothing is impossible, let us play our part individually and collectively."

Gertrude Mongella of Tanzania, who chaired the Conference, and Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe, Vice-President of Uganda, then underscored the outstanding character of the Conference. This, they said, is due to the participation of some 300 women from all over the continent, to the quality of the work which rendered possible the adoption of the Zanzibar Declaration and the Women's Agenda for a Culture of peace in Africa, and, finally, to the opening of negotiations involving groups of women from countries in conflict - notably Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the countries of the Great Lakes region - as well as from countries experiencing internal strife, such as Sierra Leone.

The Zanzibar Declaration marks the launch of "a Pan-African women's peace movement to stop violent conflicts and war." It is also an "appeal to women on other continents to join us in our efforts." Participants state in the Declaration: "We further commit ourselves to promote non-violent means of conflict resolution and African values for a culture of peace."

Concerning women's participation in the promotion of peace, the Declaration notes that "African women demand governments, the OAU and the United Nations system to take prompt and effective action to enforce equitable representation of women in peace negotiations, conflict prevention and resolution." Furthermore, the Declaration calls for long-term demilitarisation and disarmament in Africa and launches an "appeal to African governments and parliaments to reduce military expenditures and re-channel these resources to people's development."

Advocating "networking between African women's movements and international movements," the Declaration stresses the need for African women to have "effective access to and use of appropriate communication tools and technology" to bolster the creation of such links. The Declaration also stresses the importance of radio broadcasting for the continent: "A Pan-African radio programme on women and peace issues should be created."

In its conclusion, the Declaration calls on UNESCO and other organisations of the United Nations system - notably the UNDP, UNIFEM, UNICEF, UNHCR, and UNFPA, as well as the OAU, the ECA and regional and sub-regional bodies - to bring their support to the African women's peace movement. It ends on an optimistic note: "In order to achieve the goals of the women's peace movement in Africa, men and women will work hand in hand."

The Women's Agenda for a Culture of Peace in Africa opens with a historical overview of the process that led up to the Zanzibar Conference, notably the Kampala Action Plan for Peace (1993), the Beijing Conference (1995), the Pan-African Conference on Peace, Gender and Development of Kigali (1997). It then summarises the debates held in Zanzibar on the following themes: The impact of violent conflicts in Africa; The role of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peace-building in Africa; Capacity-building and networking for a culture of peace in Africa: innovative and practical measures.

On the political front, the Agenda requests the "setting up [of] a Pan-African Women's Bureau for Peace in Africa under the OAU Secretariat [...]; securing [of] at least one of the free vacant positions of Deputy Secretary General in the OAU for a qualified African woman."

The Agenda recommends a number of initiatives to promote the role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and proposes actions to "combat all forms of violence against women and bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice, create counselling centres to take care of and rehabilitate women victims of violence [...], ensure that conflict resolution programmes which address physical healing and recovery also address [...] other forms of healing and counselling."

Finally, the Agenda draws a comprehensive list of innovative and practical actions which put to the fore "women's community-based organisations as a nurturing ground for building a culture of peace," and highlights the need to create "training modules for trainers in mediation and a culture of peace." The Agenda stresses that it is also urgent to "change attitudes and gender stereotypes" and requests, governments of African States and United Nations organisations, the OAU as well as the media, to take appropriate measures in this direction. The importance of involving women in the democratic process is also recalled under the heading "changing from democratisation without women to democratisation with women."

The Conference, which was opened on May 17 by UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor, the Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity, Salim A. Salim, President Salmin Amour of Zanzibar, Vice-President of Uganda Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe, closed, at the request of the latter, with the enthusiastic singing of "We Shall Overcome" by all the participants.