ACCORD’s Training for Peace (TfP) Senior Programme Officer, Mrs Karishma Rajoo, participated in the United Nations (UN) Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) Training Development Workshop on Gender Equality in Peacekeeping in Windhoek, Namibia, from 30 June-4 July.
ACCORD’s Research Unit will host an experts’ workshop on ‘Peace Agreements in Southern Africa’ from 3-5 May 2006 at the Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria. The workshop will host peace processes facilitators and mediators as well as diplomats, scholars, researchers, and policy makers. Institutions represented will range from governments, academic institutions to civil society organisations.
On 24 June, The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, together with Engen Petroleum as main sponsor, hosted the 2006 Africa Peace Award in Durban, South Africa. The 2006 award was presented to the Nation of Burundi, for outstanding achievements in settling years of civil war in a peace process that resulted in a negotiated settlement and the successful democratic election of a new government in 2005.
Richard Kamidza, Senior Researcher at ACCORD, recently attended a two-day consultative workshop in Uppsala, Sweden, to look at poverty reduction through regional cooperation. The workshop was organised by the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), on behalf of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
The “Peacekeeping - Peacebuilding: Preparing for the Future” conference will take place in Helsinki on 29 May. It is organised by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA - www.upi-fiia.fi) and the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (http://www.formin.fi/english/) in the framework of the 50th anniversary of Finnish peacekeeping.
On 19 May 2006, ACCORD is bringing 12 African academics to Durban, South Africa to assist ACCORD to interrogate transitional frameworks in contemporary Africa with a view to enrich its research agenda on conflict analysis. The one-day seminar will focus on appropriate research questions and policy frameworks in selected countries. The countries represented are the Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa,
Below follows the text of ACCORD Founder and Executive Director, Vasu Gounden's speech at the 2006 Africa Peace Award ceremony...
A top African award for contribution to peace and conflict management – particularly in the field of women’s rights and empowerment – was presented to the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) at a glittering ceremony in the Malian capital, Bamako, last night.
ACCORD’s Elections Programme will host a three day capacity building workshop for electoral stakeholders in Luanda, from 7-9 June 2006. Approximately 35 electoral stakeholders from government, civil society and the media will be sensitized on their roles and responsibilities in preparation for the elections – with special emphasis on the management of election-related conflicts.
The African Civil-Military Coordination (ACMC) Programme at ACCORD ran its Southern Africa Regional Civil-Military Coordination (CIMIC) Course from 2-12 May 2006. ACMC programme partner – Brigadier General Nkonyeni, the commandant of the South African National War College – officially opened this, the second Southern African CIMIC Course on 2 May 2006.
Cedric de Coning, Research Fellow and Advisor to the Peace & Security Unit at ACCORD, made a presentation on the current and future role of private contractors in peacekeeping operations in Africa, at the University of Stellenbosch on Wednesday, 17 May 2006. The presentation formed part of a day-long seminar organised by the Department of Sociology of the University of Stellenbosch for a group of approximately 30 students from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces
