Winning The Battle

FORUM | Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano declared that “Africa is winning the battle against violent conflicts” at a packed Forum last fall. Chissano, who delivered the 2004 Albert Gordon Lecture, outlined the root causes of conflict in Africa and the steps being taken to prevent, manage, and resolve them. He said African leaders are engaged in collective actions to promote economic and social development across the continent.

“Our search for peaceful solutions has been a priority” during the last five years, Chissano stated, and that search is paying off. In 1999, he noted, 19 violent conflagrations were raging in Africa; today that number has been reduced to 5, due in part to the organized efforts of African leaders working in partnership with the international community.

The ethnic and tribal divisions endemic to so many conflicts in Africa thrive in societies with extreme poverty and inequality, observed Chissano. Sustained economic growth, he maintained, is the key to reducing violence. Essential, too, are partnerships among African nations. Chissano noted that the African Union, which he helped to launch in 2002, is empowered in part to intervene in countries where atrocities are being committed.

Kennedy School Dean David Ellwood introduced Chissano as a “revolutionary, statesman, democrat, fighter.” The 65-year-old Chissano is voluntarily stepping down from power after serving two terms as the first democratically elected president. In 1992, six years after becoming Mozambique’s head of state, he brokered an accord that ended a horrific civil war in his country that had dragged on for 16 years. Today Mozambique’s 18 million people, while still facing many hardships, now live in peace — an accomplishment that Chissano said is a source of great pride for him.