Africa: stem conflict, fast-track development
At a High Level Dialogue on Conflict and Development in Africa, top state functionaries from over 40 countries on the continent contended that the equitable sharing and better management of resources, candid conversations between leaders and their peoples and a commitment to both political and economic regional integration are the cardinal ways to pre-empt conflict in order to allow for unabated development. The Capacity Development Division of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) convened the Dialogue for in-depth discussions on three reports that examine the triggers of and possible solutions to conflict in the Great Lakes, the Horn of Africa and the Sahel sub-regions. The ensuing conflicts, the reports show, weigh heavily upon the affected countries and regions in terms of cost. For instance, estimates collated from studies put the death toll in recent wars in the Great Lakes area at over 5.4 million people as at April 2007. In monetary terms, the study on the Horn of Africa, for example, shows that the sub-region lost about 18.29% of its collective GDP between 1990 and 2010 due to conflict. It is also estimated that the sub-region could save between US$ 31 billion and US$ 53 billion of GDP in just one year of putting an end to conflicts. Alongside such costs to the conflicts, come negative impacts: food insecurity, stifled civil liberties and human rights, weakened institutions that were already fragile, aggravated bad governance, hampered regional trade and integration and untold psychological distress suffered mostly by women and children.
| Format: | Press release biblioteca |
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| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
2015-10
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10855/36240 |
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