Africans across the world on Monday celebrated Africa Day through a virtual conference organised by the Department of Peace and Security of the African Union Commission (AUC), under the ‘silencing of the guns’ initiative.
Deputy director for information and research at the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, Marbeline Goagoses, in a media statement availed to Nampa on Monday, said the virtual conference seeks to give impetus to the theme on silencing the guns in Africa, which was launched as the AU theme of the year for 2020.
“Additionally, it seeks to strengthen collaborative efforts among the member states, regional economic communities, civil society organisations, and the private sector, to take ownership of the provisions contained in the silencing the guns initiative,” Goagoses was quoted as saying.
She said the objective of the virtual conference is to engage stakeholders towards the development of country-level and sub-regional programmes of action towards silencing the guns in Africa, with particular attention to the current global context.
The event further assigns a prominent role to women and youth, the demographic the campaign seeks to protect the most.
Observed annually on 25 May, Africa Day commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which was created on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and has since been transformed into the African Union.