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| Forum seeks female peacekeeping troops to protect women in conflict
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Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt (PANA) -
African women leaders on Sunday vowed
to press for the deployment
of more female peace-keepers to protect women in conflict and called
on the African Union (AU) to appoint more female peace
envoys.
The African women, who met to discuss the state of women affairs in
the continent ahead of the African Union (AU) semi-annual conference
convening in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, also called
for an urgent end to violence against women in Africa.
The pre-AU Summit meeting was sponsored by the Fammes Africa
Solidarite (FAS) to discuss the state of women, with a special
attention
on the implementation of specific declarations by the AU over the last
four years, seeking to improve the women welfare.
The talks also agreed on a raft of measures, touching on the health
and economic welfare of women.
The gender rights activists sought urgent removal of school fees in
primary schools and urged African leaders to work on a staggered plan
to phase
out fees in secondary schools to enable more women in the continent to
access education.
The conference was attended by African ministers in charge of gender,
legal experts within Africa and the Diaspora and regional institutions
engaged in
the campaign to improve the women welfare, among a host of other
institutions to popularise the gender campaign.
It was convened to provide a platform for following up on the pledges
made by the African leaders to improve the status of the women welfare
in the continent
and brought together women rights organisations, under the 'Gender is
My Agenda' campaign network.
The participants urged the AU to strengthen its campaign against
violence, noting that the women in the continent remained less active
in peace negotiations,
even though they were the worst affected by the conflict.
"Peace and security is a pre-requisite for development," said Monica
Juma, the Executive Director of the South Africa-based Africa Policy
Institute.
She said the meeting agreed to push for the nomination of women in
senior political positions and as lead envoys for peace in the
continent.
The conference urged the African leaders due to meet here to consider
nominating more women to lead conflict negotiations.
In particular, the women leaders urged the AU to appoint former
Mozambican First Lady Graca Machel, who also joined the Kenya peace
mission early this year, to lead the mediation efforts for an end to
the political crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Other measures agreed upon by the women include the need to recruit
more female soldiers for the peacekeeping operations within the
continent to protect girls and provide specialised care to women; and
for the AU Commission to tackle the crisis facing women in countries
emerging from conflicts, especially Burundi and Liberia.
The AU Gender Directorate, the women said in their communique, should
be strengthened to become the watchdog against violations of women
rights.
Meanwhile, the AU has been urged to convene a round table discussion
on women land ownership ahead of the 2009 land Summit, to enable
African women make specific contributions on the issue of land
ownership, still a major issue for most of the women folk in Africa.
Juma, who read the communique on behalf of the participants at the
gender confab, said special focus should also be turned to the people
living with HIV/AIDS.
She said the meeting agreed to push for women contraceptives to be
available on demand.
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| Sharm el Sheikh - 23/06/2008 |
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