International Day of Peace marked

Bortianor (GAR), Sept. 22, GNA - The United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, on Sunday said conflicts, violence, hatred, deep divisions among states and the bomb attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad raised questions about the efforts of the international community to promote peace and the well-being of people.

"Our challenge is to ensure we have the rules, instruments and institutions to deal with all these threats- not according to some hierarchy of "first order" and "second order" issues, but as a linked set of global, cross-border challenges that affect, and should concern all. The divisions of the past year have raised doubts about the adequacy and effectiveness of these rules and tools," he said.

These were contained in a speech read by Mr. Alfred Salia Fawundu, UN Resident Co-ordinator, to mark International Day of Peace, at a ceremony at Bortianor, a fishing community in the Ga District, on Sunday.

It was organised by the United Nations Information Centre in collaboration with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Moral Re-Armament-Ghana, a non-governmental organisation.

The UN General Assembly on September Seven, 2001 passed a resolution designating September 21 of each year as International Day of Peace.

This is the first time the Day is being marked in Ghana and Bortianor was chosen for the ceremony because it has been a conflict area as a result of a protracted chieftaincy and land dispute.

Mr Annan said the Day has been designated "a day of global ceasefire and non-violence," during which all nations and peoples are to ensure cessation of hostilities in conflicts.

He said the Day is intended to "still the guns" to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance and to enable civilians gain safe passage from conflict areas.

It should also be a period to plant crops and to erect shelter free from the threat of instant destruction and for refugees to have some respite from hostilities.

The UN Secretary General said the Day should offer an opportunity for reflection by the international community on threats and challenges to world peace.

"In some parts of the world, the dominant threats to peace and security are seen as a new and potentially more virulent forms of terrorism, the proliferation of non-conventional weapons, the spread of trans-national criminal networks and the ways, in which all these things maybe coming together to reinforce one another".

He expressed the hope that the Day would be seen as a period to begin peaceful dialogue to promote a global consensus on the dominant threats to peace and security and what to do about them.

Sheikh Ibrahim Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister, noted that, for the world to attain an appreciable level of development, peace is a requisite ingredient at all levels.

He noted that peace is non-existent because local and international conflicts have engulfed the world and described Africa, particularly the West African sub-region as one of the hotbeds of civil wars. The Minister said that locally, chieftaincy and land disputes have led to violence and ethnic tensions with devastating consequences for development.

"Although Ghana is seen as a relatively peaceful country, we have been plagued by chieftaincy, land and religious disputes, which are becoming the norm of the day".

He noted that the chieftaincy institution is a revered and respected one but has been brought into disrepute because of the greed. Sheikh Quaye said Bortianor was chosen as the venue to mark the Day because it is one of the volatile places in terms of chieftaincy conflicts, often characterised with violence and the loss of life and property.

He stressed the need for chiefs to use dialogue to forestall such occurrence.

The Minister said that government was disturbed about the upsurge of the activities of land-guards, a phenomena associated with the Greater Accra region.

He said connivance with their activities by the custodians of the land is not only criminal but also "evil" and warned them to put a stop or face the full rigours of the law.

Mr. Sam Attoh, District Chief Executive, said Ghana's socio-economic development could not take place in a hostile environment and called on chiefs and traditional leaders to bury their differences and to resort to dialogue to solve their problems to attract investors.