The United Nations Security Council has been told that the failure of Nigerian leaders to deal with diversity was the root cause of the Biafran crisis.
The person who made the presentation, was South Africa´s former
president Thabo Mbeki, who lived in Nigeria for a few years in the late
70s during the anti-apartheid struggle.
Mbeki addressed the UN Security Council on Tuesday and listed African countries, apart from Nigeria, where the failure to deal with diversity was a root cause of conflict.
He blamed the current clashes in Ethiopia´s Tigray region, also on the failure to manage diversity.
Mbeki recalled that the Nigerian government was victorious against secessionist-seeking Biafra 50 years ago and its leaders announced “that they would follow a policy of no victor, no vanquished.”
Looking at the “painful example” of the ongoing conflict between the Ethiopian government and ethnic Tigrayans, Mbeki said, “this is exactly what Ethiopia needs.”
Thabo Mbeki cited “the centrality of failure properly to manage diversity” in the conflicts in Congo, Burundi, Ivory Coast and Sudan.
He pointed to the 2004 report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission “which tells the naked truth, that it was as a result of the failure to manage diversity that the country experienced a very costly 11-year war which started in 1991” — and there is a similar failure to manage diversity “in the violent conflict which has been and is still going on in Cameroon.”
France´s U.N. ambassador, Nicolas De Riviere, had some additions.
In the Sahel region stretching across northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea, “terrorist groups use differences to stir up hatred between communities,” he said.
And ethnic and religious violence is also prevalent in the Middle East including Iraq, Yemen and Syria.
They spoke at a U.N. Security Council meeting on “Diversity, State Building and the Search for Peace” that was organized by Kenya, which holds the council presidency this month, and chaired by its president, Uhuru Kenyatta.
“The key message I wish to deliver today is that poor management of diversity is leading to grave threats to international peace and security,” Kenyatta said.
He said inequality within and between countries “is too often the result of exclusion on the basis of identity” that becomes institutionalized in governments and in economic relations.
“And it manifests in stereotyping and bigotry,” leading among other consequences to lack of work for billions of people simply based on who they are, he said.
“The result is a profound sense of grievance and bitterness that populists and demagogues can easily exploit,” Kenyatta said.
“It is fodder for terrorism, insurgencies, the rise of xenophobia, hate speech, divisive tribalism, as well as racism.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cited a U.N.-World Bank study that found “many conflicts are deeply rooted in longstanding inequalities among groups,” which leave people feeling excluded and marginalized because they are denied opportunities based on their culture, race, skin colour, ethnicity or income.
He pointed to the sharp increase in armed groups at the heart of conflicts — “rebels, insurgents, militias, criminal gangs and armed trafficking, terrorist and extremist groups” — as well as a rise in military coups.
While combatants can agree to end hostilities, Guterres warned, “without including a wide range of diverse voices at every step of this process — without bringing all people along — any peace will be short-lived.”
He said that women and young people must be “meaningful participants” and that “when we open the door to inclusion and participation, we take a giant step forward in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.”
Fawzia Koofi, the first woman to be deputy speaker of Afghanistan´s Parliament who left the country after the Taliban takeover on Aug. 15, said her country is the latest test of whether the global community can come together to uphold the principles of the U.N. Charter, including promoting the rule of law, justice and equality for men and women.
“There are serious reports that fundamental freedoms are being flouted,” she said.
“Women and girls are once again regarded as second-class citizens, literally. They are making us invisible again … (and) thousands of people from religious minorities and other minority groups are forced to flee their villages.”
Koofi said the Afghan situation shows how the imbalance in power is “at the roots of so much conflict and inequality.”
Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose country was the scene of genocide in 1994 in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population., said sustainable peace can only be built if the root causes of conflict are understood by a broad range of the population, and it requires dialogue and search for solutions.
“It may not be possible to entirely prevent all conflict,” he said. “In fact, disagreements and grievances will always be there in one form or another. But the intensity and the impact of conflicts can be minimized by remaining attentive to local needs” and delivering “the results that citizens expect and deserve.”
The group in a statement on Sunday through its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, claimed that Governor Willie Obiano recent statements has absolved the group from killings in Anambra and Imo States.
Recall that Obiano, while giving reasons for not attending a meeting of southeast governors, traditional rulers and stakeholders, had said he can’t discuss security with individuals sponsoring killings in his state.
Governor Willie Obiano.
IPOB, in its statement, said Obiano’s revelation shows that the killings going on in the region are politically motivated.
According to IPOB, people have found it difficult to believe that they are not behind those attacks in the southeast.
The pro-Biafra wondered if those people who fail to believe they are not behind such dastardly acts will believe if they said all southeast governors except Obiano are their members and sponsors.
According to Powerful: “We are the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the able leadership of our Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We have always distanced ourselves from the senseless killings in Biafra land especially in Anambra and Imo states but some gullible fellows do not want to believe us.
“Now we have been vindicated by the recent confession by Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State on why he did not attend the meeting of southeast governors in Enugu. The governor said without equivocations that he deliberately stayed away from the meeting because he didn’t consider it proper to sit at the table and discuss security with those who are sponsoring the insecurity and killings in his state. Gov. Obiano did not mince words when he said that the killings in Anambra were politically motivated. He accused his fellow governors and politicians of masterminding the killings in his state for political gains.
“Now, our question to all those still pointing accusing fingers at IPOB and Eastern Security Network (ESN) operatives for the killings in Anambra is: How many of the southeast Governors are IPOB members? Since according to Gov. Obiano the killings are being sponsored by some persons expected in the meeting for political reasons, how many of the attendees are IPOB members? Can the same people who find it hard to believe our explanations now believe us if we say that all southeast governors except Obiano are our members and sponsors?
“For the umpteenth time, let’s restate that we have no hands in the senseless killings of innocent citizens in Biafra land especially Imo and Anambra states. Politicians and traitors bent on implicating IPOB to impress their Fulani slavemasters are the ones masterminding this genocide in collaboration with the wicked Nigerian security agents”
He recalled that the Nigerian government was victorious over secessionist-seeking Biafra 50 years ago and announced “that they would follow a policy of no victor, no vanquished.”
Naija News reports that Mbeki, who lived in Nigeria for a few years in the late 70s during the anti-apartheid struggle, addressed the UN apex body on Tuesday.
He cited Nigeria among African countries where the failure to deal with diversity was a root cause of conflict, as he blamed the current clashes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, also on the failure to manage diversity.
Looking at the “painful example” of the ongoing conflict between the Ethiopian government and ethnic Tigrayans, Mbeki said, “this is exactly what Ethiopia needs”.
The former South African leader cited “the centrality of failure properly to manage diversity” in the conflicts in Congo, Burundi, Ivory Coast and Sudan.
He pointed to the 2004 report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission “which tells the naked truth, that it was as a result of the failure to manage diversity that the country experienced a very costly 11-year war which started in 1991” — and there is a similar failure to manage diversity “in the violent conflict which has been and is still going on in Cameroon.”
https://www.sfi4.com/17765019/rwgw
The sleek, attractive Rewardical Gateway introduces prospective
customers to the fun and value of Rewardicals, while enticing new
members with 25 FREE Rewardicals just for signing up. PLUS, you'll be
set to earn unlimited 10-1 Rewardicals on every Rewardical these signups
earn…for life!
Today's question:
Founder of Biafra Independence Movement and Movement for actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (BIM-MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, has decried the unprovoked attack on its regional office at Umuaka in Njaba Council Area of Imo State by the Naval personnel.
He alleged that the naval personnel, who had broken into its regional office, had carted away the vital documents, including N11,000.00 being contribution of the members.
The BIM-MASSOB leader, however, said that there were no arrests or casualties as his members were not holding any meeting at the time of the raiding of the office .
In a statement, yesterday, by his Media Aide, Chris Mocha, the BIM-MASSOB said, heavily armed naval officers who arrived the area in two Hilux vans were drafted from the Naval Base at Naze, near Owerri, the Imo state capital had, on arrival, forced the doors open, destroyed the toilet facilities, ransacked the rooms and parlour and carted away vital documents and made away with some valuables, including the N11,000.00 kept in an envelope being contributions by his members.
Uwazuruike insisted that BIM-MASSOB are not members of the IPOB and condemned the raiding of the organisation’s office by the naval personnel, saying that BIM-MASSOB is not part of IPOB.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has attributed his problem with former President Goodluck Jonathan to illegal and excess deduction from
the federation account during the administration of the then President.
Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State made the revelation in the book, ‘Against the Run of Play’ written by the Chairman of ThisDay Editorial Board, Olusegun Adeniyi.
In the book, Adeniyi quoted Amaechi as saying, “If in one year, you took about N300bn from the federation account to pay for subsidy and the next year, you are taking almost N2tn for the same thing when fundamentals had not changed, then serious questions should be asked.
“And as NGF (Nigerian Governors Forum) chairman, it was my responsibility to ask those questions and Jonathan took them personal.”
Reacting to claims by Jonathan saying he, Amaechi, had issues with the former First Lady, Patience Jonathan, Amaechi said his “only sin” was that he refused to surrender his mandate to the former First Lady.
“Jonathan told me that Amaechi’s problem was not with him but rather with his wife and that, at a point, he tried to reconcile them,” Adeniyi quoted Jonathan as saying.
But, in his response, Amaechi said, “I could not surrender my mandate to a woman (Patience) in Abuja, even if such a person was the wife of the President…that basically was my sin with Dame Patience Jonathan.”
The family of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has accused the British government of complic...
