SACCORD Statement on Commemorating Africa Freedom Day
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MISA Zambia Vice Chairperson Hyde Haguta at a Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) Press Brief on the eve of Bill 10 Presentation Monday 16 March 2020 in Lusaka with SACCORD Executive Director Borniface Chembe and MISA Zambia Chairperson Hellen Mwale. Justice Minister Given Lubinda is expected to present Bill 10 for Second Reading on Tuesday 17th March 2020, 483 days before Zambia Votes on Thursday 12th August 2021 – Picture by Derrick Sinjela ZCYPWD & ZADEMA.
Monday 25th May, 2020
Boniface Cheembe Executive Director
THE Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) would like to join the rest of the African continent in celebrating a day that is dedicated to everything there is about the African continent and her people.
SACCORD welcomes this year’s theme of “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development.”
There is no doubt that since independence conflicts of a different nature have characterized the African continent to an extent where there has been a peace deficit and thereby challenges where development is concerned as peace is a prerequisite for development.
Many regions on the continent have faced conflicts which have included liberation struggles as experienced in Southern Africa, war economies as has been prevalent in the Great Lakes Region and parts of West Africa, secessionist movements as evidenced in parts of Horn of Africa and parts of West and Central Africa among others.
All these conflicts have involved guns whose legacy is still present on the continent today hence this year’s theme being timely and relevant to the continent.
We believe that this year’s theme addresses the fundamentals of Africa’s peace and development by ensuring that we silence the guns and focus on the developmental agenda of the continent through peace.
The presence of guns therefore needs to be addressed so that the continent contains societies that are peaceful and provide greater prospects for development.
Zambia has been fortunate to have enjoyed peace since independence and we can only appeal to our present and future leaders to maintain the peace that the country has enjoyed and never to take it for granted.
In Zambia, the phenomenon of political violence has in the recent past seen the usage of guns to the detriment of our people hence the need to get rid of guns and the increasing culture of the use of guns.
Africa Freedom Day offers the citizens of the continent an opportunity to reflect on the successes and failures that the continent has had thus far where peace and development is concerned.
We trust and believe that if we have genuine reflection on the quality of peace and development in terms of successes and failures, then we can put ourselves in a position to better the kind of peace and development we aspire to going into the future.
SACCORD wishes all the people of Africa a Happy Africa Freedom Day.
Boniface Cheembe Executive Director
Boniface Cheembe Executive Director at Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes
