Best Way To Silence The Guns Sustainably And Successfully, Abdelaziz

The Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, Maged Abdelaziz, today (12 Oct) said that "the best way to silence the guns sustainably and successfully" in Africa, is "to build durable peace."

Abdelaziz, acting as the chair of the Annual Briefing by African Regional Economic Communities to Member States and United Nations Entities on Silencing the Guns in Africa, said that in order to achieve that goal "we need to build societies in which all citizens, especially women and the youth can fully partake."

Also addressing the meeting, the Permanent Representative of Guinea to the African Union, Fatoumata Sidibe Kaba, said "the prevalence of conflicts over the past few decades has deeply affected the efforts of Africa to achieve its full economic potential and to satisfy the increasing needs of its population."

Mahamat Zene Cherif, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Chad to the United Nations and co-chair of the meeting, said "the need to silence weapons in Africa is acknowledged to be a key factor in sustainable human development being attained on the continent during the medium term development strategy, as announced in the Africa's strategy for development post 2015, but also in the long term view for development which is part and parcel of the Africa 2063 Agenda."

The African Union and its Member States as well as its regional and sub-regional organizations, with the support of the international community, has accelerated efforts to achieve a conflict-free Africa and end all wars in Africa by 2020.

STORY: UN / SILENCING GUNS AFRICA
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 12 OCTOBER 2015, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

RECENT - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

12 OCTOBER 2015, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, conference room
3. Wide shot, dais
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Maged Abdelaziz, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa:
"What will it take to silence the guns? For on, we need to further strengthen and support key mechanisms to prevent and resolve conflicts, such as the Africa peace and security architecture and the African governance architecture. But we cannot wait until tensions rise. The best way to silence the guns sustainably and successfully is to build durable peace. For that we need to build societies in which all citizens, especially women and the youth can fully partake."
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Fatoumata Sidibe Kaba, Permanent Representative of Guinea to the African Union:
"The prevalence of conflicts over the past few decades has deeply affected the efforts of Africa to achieve its full economic potential and to satisfy the increasing needs of its population. You can easily understand why Africa wishes to silence these guns by 2020."
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Mahamat Zene Cherif, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Chad to the United Nations:
"The need to silence weapons in Africa is acknowledged to be a key factor in sustainable human development being attained on the continent during the medium term development strategy, as announced in the Africa's strategy for development post 2015, but also in the long term view for development which is part and parcel of the Africa 2063 Agenda."
9. Med shot, delegates
10. Wide shot, conference room

DURATION: 01:59