Mr. Emmanuel Bombande, Executive Director, West Africa Network for Peace building (WANEP), says conflicts within countries were on the rise as a result of increasing competition for resources and perceived inequity in the distribution of these resources by political powers.

“More and more, citizens are becoming aware of what they perceive as their rights, thus the distribution of resources and the sense of equity in that distribution can either facilitate a peaceful country or increase tensions when it is seen as not being distributed equitably” he stated.

Mr. Bombande, who made the statements at the opening of a two-day meeting of the Mediation Support Network (MSN) in Accra on Wednesday, said access to political power itself was also whipping up conflicts in countries.

“Violent extremism on the basis of beliefs and ideology was also becoming a trend” adding “we must be able to understand where they are coming from and how to use mediation before they become a big problem for the entire sub-region”.

Mr. Bombande said the meeting, which was being hosted by WANEP on the theme, “Regional Intergovernmental Organisations (Rigos) In Mediation Efforts and the Complementary Roles of International Actors”, would be looking at the interface of their work with Rigos national governments, with ECOWAS, UN and experiences they can learn and share with these partners.

He stated that the meeting would improve how they handled security issues from how they understand the issues at stake at their deep-rooted level to analysis and how that informs the analysis for quality decisions to be taken by governments.

“Mediation is a process and as with every process, you have to be very good at how you design and engage in the process. Conflicts are happening within nations and are inter-related because they have corresponding relationship with neighbouring countries. So, how does it affect regional organisation and how do we complement each other” he said.

According to him, the meeting would also help deepen understanding of mediation and avoid duplication of efforts by actors in mediation.

Madam Florence Akonor, Deputy Director of the Africa Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, who represented the Minister, emphasised the role of non-state actors in the peace-building.

She said the government of Ghana had opened its doors to civil society and other non-state actors, adding that the creation of the national peace council was driven by civil society including religious leaders, opinion leaders among others.

Madam Akonor noted that non-state actors played a critical role in the success of Ghana’s 2008 general elections and said the meeting was both timely and appropriate as Ghana holding general elections in December, 2012.