• Sri Lanka shining example of need for peace and stability

Founding President Sir James R. Mancham returned to Seychelles on Sunday after a week’s absence in the country.  

He in fact was co-chairing alongside the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, the Global Peace Leadership Conference 2013 which was held in Abuja, Nigeria from November 6-9 on the theme ‘Moral & Innovative Leadership …. Building Sustainable Peace for a Prosperous Future’.  

The conference was organised by the Global Peace Foundation in partnership with the Institute for Peace & Conflict Resolution. 

Perhaps the most important objective of the conference is to get all the religions in the world to agree to put aside differences in theology and dogma as they concentrate in their common objective of seeking peace.   

He said that he was most encouraged to learn while in Abuja that the Seychelles Inter-Faith Council (Sifco) was holding its annual general meeting at Care House with the aim of promoting contacts and help build relationships between believers of various religious groups in the country.  

Mr Mancham said that this was the only way forward to secure internal reconciliation and a high level of harmony within the nation.  The Global Peace Leadership Conference 2013 ended up with the Abuja Peace Declaration which, inter alia,

i)    Acknowledged the sovereignty of Almighty God on the basis of the quality, dignity and intrinsic value of all people as One Family Under God;
ii)    Affirmed the central role of universal moral principles and values that strengthened families which remain the basic building blocks of an equitable and prosperous society;
iii)    Recognised that without shared values there can be no peace;
iv)    Further recognised that children and youth are positive source of energy which can be directed towards developing competence to provide mentoring, volunteerism and selfless service to people;
v)    Affirmed its commitment to the United Nations Declaration on human rights, the UN millennium goals, the African Charter and the sustainable development goals as well as new models of community driven development. 

Over 500 international delegates representing more than 20 nations with diverse cultural traditions finally resolved to support nations committed to the forging of innovative partnership in the public, private and civil society sectors and for creating and sustaining a strategic platform to promote universal principles for peace building shared values as ‘One Family Under God’.

Mr Mancham said that the importance of stability within a nation can find no better example than what has happened in Sri Lanka from 1976 when Seychelles became independent and Sri Lanka hosted the Non-Aligned Summit which was the first international conference he attended as the founding President of the Republic of Seychelles.   Sadly, he said, soon after, the internal turmoil within Sri Lanka developed into a civil war and it is only today in 2013, 27 years later, that Sri Lanka is able to host another important international conference i.e. the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which is to take place later this week.  

Mr Mancham said he also wishes to take the opportunity to congratulate the British high commissioner, Lindsay Skoll, and her associates for the recent successful Poppy Ball which was organised to raise funds for the welfare of veterans who fought during the 1st and 2nd world wars.  

He said that the Poppy Ball should become to Seychelles what the Red Cross Ball has become to Monaco but the focus should be more on the search for peace rather than the glorification of wars.
“The Seychellois who were casualties of the two wars went to war in the search for peace and not just for the sake of war. The solution of the world problems today must be found through soft power and not hard power. There’s no victory for any nation through war anymore,” he stated.

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