Speech by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency Benjamin William Mkapa, at the Closing Ceremony of the Workshop on Conflict Resolution in Africa, Arusha, 23 January, 1998

Mr. Chairman;
Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere;
Honourable Ministers and Members of Parliament;
Your Excellencies,
Ambassadors and Special Representatives;
Distinguished Participants and Resource Persons;
Invited Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

There are certain disadvantages in speaking last - when everybody else has spoken what they think needs to be said. I am afraid the disadvantages will be even more obvious today. During these three days, through seven sessions, you have heard and ingested the most profound and cognitive analysis of conflicts on our continent by people who should know - people who have distinguished themselves on the subject at hand and those steeped in its experience. Like surgeons they have dissected the bane of conflict in Africa, revealing its anatomy, and they have shared with us their invaluable individual and institutional experiences in dealing with its component parts. You may have heard all there is to hear. What else can I say?

But there are also advantages in speaking last - having the last word, so to speak. For one, none of you will have the opportunity, at this Workshop, to challenge what I shall say!!

I wish on behalf of the Government and People of the United Republic
Tanzania to commend the organisers of the Workshop - The Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation - for developing and implementing the idea of this Workshop as we stand on the threshold of the next century and the new millennium. They, and all of us assembled here, would not want Africa to enter the next century with the present unfortunate image of a conflict-ridden continent. This is a desire that unites us in action against conflicts, that unites us in thanking the organisers and unites us in recommitting ourselves to its early fulfilment.

Let me also express our deep gratitude to the United Nations Development Programme for its support in hosting this important and timely Workshop. The UN System has always been ready and willing to support efforts at conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa, as well as at ameliorating the effects of conflicts on our continent including providing succour to refugees, and rebuilding shattered economies and essential social services.

This Workshop has coincided with the completion of the tour of duty in Tanzania of Mr. J. Victor Angelo as UNDP Resident Representative and Co-ordinator of the United Nations System in Tanzania. I have heard nothing but praise for Mr. Angelo from my entire Government and the Tanzanian civil society during his tour of duty in our country. He has been personally instrumental in many initiatives and projects related not only to the socio-economic development of Tanzania and the well-being of its people, but also to conflict resolution and the welfare of refugees. We are sad to see him depart, but I consider this Workshop on Conflict Resolution in Africa a fitting tribute and conclusion to his work in Tanzania.

I should also like to thank all of you, especially those who travelled from afar, for agreeing to take part in the Workshop and above all for sharing with us your individual and institutional experiences on conflict resolution in Africa. Many African countries, and our partners from abroad, are represented here at very high levels. We also have in this hall a very high density of experienced hands on conflict issues in Africa. No wonder the level of contributions, discussions and debate has been very high indeed. This has been a truly rewarding and useful experience and I thank you all on behalf of my fellow African Heads of State and Government. I am sure the outcome of this Workshop will be an important input to the work of those grappling with the search for peaceful solutions to Africa's conflicts, and will help to give peace a real chance.

A special word of gratitude goes to Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere for lending his personal stature to consideration of this most critical and taxing burden of our continent. He is getting on in age but as God Almighty has constituted him solidly we have always had the courage to put more loads on his shoulders - entrusting him with, among other things, the thankless and frustrating task of facilitating a political settlement to the conflict in Burundi. I am sure that we are all thankful to him, we all support him, and we will continue to support him to the hilt in his endeavours.

Mr. Chairman,
The Workshop has been held against the background of several conflict situations in Africa the majority of which have far reaching implications for peace, security, stability and sustainable socio-economic development. Besides identifying the root causes of these conflicts, the Workshop was designed to focus on what needs to be done to address the crisis confronting Africa and engender the necessary political will and courage to come to terms with our conflicts in an honest and transparent process of political dialogue.

The causes of conflict - both intra-state and inter-state - are as varied as their level of intensity. There cannot be a single factor explanation. We often attribute conflicts to ethnic, racial, historical, religious, economic and cultural factors. But these factors, causative as they may appear, do not sufficiently explain why some conflicts are more intractable than others, or why they occur in some places and not in others. Not infrequently these factors are used only as smoke-screens behind which socio-political and economic ambitions are pursued often in the most undemocratic and unacceptable manner.

A multi-factor approach is, therefore, called for in attempts to have in-depth appreciation of the root causes of African conflicts. Nascent and weak state institutions, especially in the midst of the transition to more liberal political and economic systems, as well as exaggerated state security concerns, are some of the structural factors that may provide some explanation as to the causes of some of these conflicts.

Discriminatory political systems, ideologies of exclusion or mutual exclusion, and elitist political orientation are other factors. Cultural discrimination against minorities (and against the majority in some countries), inequitable educational and economic opportunities, constraints on religious freedoms, and incendiary group prejudices and perceptions are all not only causes for conflict but they also make it hard to prevent conflicts or manage conflicts once they are triggered.

Mr. Chairman,
I should also like, in closing this Workshop, to emphasise the question of ownership. The majority of present conflicts on our continent are essentially of our own making - whether internally within one country, or across African borders
.
During the colonial period, and the era of apartheid, some of the conflicts in Africa were a result of justified acts of struggle for freedom, equality and justice. During the cold-war, African countries were often sucked into the vortex of ideological battles between East and West. Our continent was turned into a battle-ground for the cold-war. But today very few conflicts can fully and justifiably be explained in terms of extra-Africa interference in African affairs. And, after forty years of independence, when the vast majority of the youths fighting our wars never lived under colonial rule, we can only have ourselves
to blame if we continue to be influenced by the legacy of colonialism. We have to be honest to ourselves, and to our people, by accepting that as free and sovereign nations we have no one to blame for the woes engendered by conflict. While it is true we can still be provoked from outside, Africans cannot today abdicate responsibility for the conflicts in, or between, their countries.

But the question of ownership is not confined to causes of conflict. It must also extend to the realm of prevention, management and resolution of our conflicts. As is the case on challenge of development, we cannot divest ourselves of the responsibility of ownership of solutions. It is true we shall continue to need external help, it be financial, logistic, human, equipment and so on. But we must not attempt to abdicate ownership and pursuit of solutions as a matter of principle.

I am sure at this Workshop you have had the opportunity to review various African mechanisms for conflict resolution developed on the basis of ownership. There are those undertaken under the auspices of our continental organisation, the OAU, within the framework of first the Commission on Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration, and subsequently the Mechanism for Prevention, Management and Resolution of Conflicts. In recent times we have witnessed the emergence of several regional initiatives to deal with conflict situations in places such as Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, to mention but a few.

These welcome initiatives have had varying levels of success, but to me that is of subsidiary importance. What is really important is the fact that at last Africa is taking charge and responsibility for its conflicts and their resolution. As free, independent and dignified nations we could not be expected to behave otherwise. This is a positive development we must encourage, expand, and improve upon collectively.

Finding regional solutions to regional conflicts is an especially important strategy in dealing with African conflicts. At the regional level we understand each other better - sharing, as we do, history, cultural values and temperaments. It is easier for few regional leaders to sit down together and hammer out solutions anchored in the region and supported by our continental body and the international community at large. Such solutions, properly designed, and with external support, must not be construed to be infringing upon the territorial integrity of the country, or countries, in conflict. After all, as we have learned the hard way in Tanzania, even a purely internal conflict has the tendency to generate cross-border consequences including refugees and threats to regional stability.

But we also need to improve, if not perfect, our capacity to design and manage regional solutions and mechanisms for conflict prevention, management and resolution. In addition there is the question of developing the capacity to monitor, evaluate and co-ordinate the implementation of agreed solutions to regional conflicts. This remains a great weakness. For instance, many in the Great Lakes Region have not been quite satisfied with the implementation of the regionally prescribed regime of sanctions against Burundi as one of the tools in the overall strategy of encouraging political dialogue and constitutionality in that country. We could, I think, have done better in monitoring, evaluating and co-ordinating the implementation of those sanctions.

Mr. Chairman,
I should also like to venture the thought that quite a number of conflicts - within and between countries - are a product of vast and often deep misconceptions of rights and duties of individual citizenry or of individual nations. Through long-term civic and public education, we need to clear the cobwebs of misconception that stoke up the engines of conflict.

At the national level, and especially at this time when Africa is in transition to more liberal political and economic systems, the scope for conflict arising out of misconceptions of rights and duties, or misplaced expectations, is very great indeed. Examples are many. There are cases where one ethnic group thinks it has the right - or even birthright - to rule because of reasons of history or of numerical size. They then feel politically dispossessed or insecure if they are not in power. The same goes with religious groups. There are people whose understanding of liberty is unlimited freedom, including freedom to infringe on the freedom and rights of others. This, of course, is not the essence of liberty and such people need to be disabused of these notions. Education is clearly necessary.

After developing a correct conception and perception of rights and duties within a country, it is then important to forge a national agenda based on a shared national vision. We all know that there are certain African borders that do not make sense, and can only be explained by the arbitrariness of those who sat in Berlin over a century ago and partitioned our continent. It is not always that those boundaries have created nations. Africans must, therefore, work extra hard themselves to create nations within the geographical contrivances left behind by the colonialists. They cut up our continent into geographical entities. It is now incumbent upon us to make nations out of those entities, and until we do that we will continue to be plagued by prospects of internal conflicts. In so doing, and in developing a common identity, a common vision, and a common national agenda, we shall create solid pillars of society that deliberately inculcate the values of a common nationhood and a common destiny among present and future African generations.

Mr. Chairman,
After everything about conflicts is said and done, we must, however, concede that our long-term strategy should be to prevent conflicts rather than grapple with conflicts and their aftermath. We need to develop new national and regional orders
that will narrow the scope for conflict, or nip new conflicts in the bud. At a time when Africa needs unity to prosper in the emerging new economic world, when we need to jointly address questions of survival and of poverty alleviation, we cannot afford the massive diversion of scarce resources that becomes necessary in the event of latent or open conflict.

It is bad enough that we need to spend large sums of money in keeping standing armies as a hedge against possible aggression, but it is worse when conflict breaks out. We must develop the political will to get our priorities in order. And preparing for war and conflict cannot be our priority. Let us instead direct our scarce resources to prevention of conflicts and to human and economic development in justice and dignity.

Mr. Chairman,
Central to all these regional and global efforts is the domestic national effort. Peace, security and good governance are complementary and mutually supportive for the transition to sustainable socio economic development. Experience has also shown that countries that have peace, security and respect for the rule of law provide better opportunities for social harmony, economic development and foreign investment. For there can be no development without security. Investors, both foreign and local, require a stable and conducive climate to operate. In order to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts in Africa, deliberate and genuine efforts must be made to establish democratic institutions whose underpinnings must of necessity include broad popular political participation, free expression and association, democratic choice of leadership expressed in regular free and fair elections, and a sustained commitment to fight corruption, nepotism, and social and economic exclusiveness.

Mr. Chairman,
There is no holy book for conflict resolution applicable to all conflict situations. The conclusion of an agreement, for instance, is not a testimony that all parties to the conflict are satisfied. There is copious literature to demonstrate that mediation does not resolve all issues in a dispute even though an agreement may be reached. There is a need, therefore, for flexibility in the application of these agreements for their sustainable implementation.

Mr. Chairman,
I cannot end my statement without expressing Africa's appreciation for the valuable external support provided by countries that many of the Workshop participants represent. I express this appreciation in the full knowledge that this assistance and support is neither a panacea for these conflicts nor an alternative to the sustained efforts that must be made by African countries and their leaders themselves. These conflicts are a product of African action or inaction. Hence their resolution will be realised to a large extent by focusing on the domestic or regional scene, but with continued support from outside.

Africa must now move firmly away from the precipice of an unending cycle of conflict and instead make the transition from economic stagnation to economic prosperity, in peace, justice, equality, freedom, security for all, stability and dignity. We need your support to realise this objective.

Mr. Chairman,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have now come to the end of three days of intensive discussions on a very serious issue - an issue that has wrecked certain African economies, unnecessarily killing and maiming our brothers and sisters, scaring away badly needed investments, and giving mother Africa a very bad image. I thank you all for the invaluable contribution each one has made.

I hope that as hosts we have not been found wanting, and that we provided you with adequate accommodation and suitable working facilities and arrangements. And now, El Niño notwithstanding, I should like to express the hope that some of you may wish to unwind a bit by exploring what this country, and especially the areas around Arusha, have to offer by way of relaxation and tourist attractions!

Mr. Chairman,
There is an African saying that even the last cow in a herd does stir up dust. I have spoken last, but I hope I have not stirred up too much dust for you to see your way home or to fudge the conflict resolution initiatives you are associated with. I thank you for your kind attention, and I now have the pleasure to declare the Workshop on Conflict Resolution in Africa officially closed, and to wish all our guests Godspeed!