THE AU SPECIAL ENVOY ON WOMEN PEACE AND SECURITY CALLS ON ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN AS A CONFLICT MITIGATION STRATEGY

The AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security's consultation meeting with women's groups and experts has entered day two today at the New AU Complex in Addis Ababa. It is not business as usual, Africa must really shift its gears up in the manner it addresses women's peace and security issues both during conflict and during post-conflict reconstruction. In her early morning address to mark this second day, Mme Bineta Diop called for African Heads of States and Governments and development agencies working in conflict spaces to empower all women economically as a way of enabling them to make decisions for their safety and security.

\"Each time I go to Congo and see the land that exists there I am not surprised because I know Africa is endowed with resources. What surprises me is rather the fact that women in the Congo are not utilising that land at all, they have no access to it. I get devastated. Yes, we have to talk about gender based violence and rape in conflict, we cannot afford not to talk about that in Africa. We however need to do much more as Africans, we must talk about more issues in the reconstruction. We must talk about the resources: the land, the cows and how these can empower women to be more active agents during conflict and during conflict reconstruction periods. Many women are abducted and cows are given in exchange for them, they are victims of ransom by different warring parties. Just imagine what would happen if women themselves owned huge herds of cattle! They would obviously be empowered to make decisions that benefit them and the rest of society. We have to imagine innovative ways of empowering women so that they don't keep getting abducted. We have had enough Resolutions and Protocols in Africa, we now need action, action, action! We need to think a little bit more outside the box, and focus also on local solutions to local needs and problems.\"

Speaking at the same occasion, Ecoma Alaga, United Nations Programme Officer in the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa also charged that African Leaders should take peace and security issues more seriously. \"Peace and security is not just about rape and violence, it is not an end in its self either. Peace and security is also about everyday politics, it is about governance,m and about gender relations.\"

Foluke Ademokun, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at the Africa Leadership Forum based in Nigeria called for Africa to take the issue of resources and women's economic empowerment seriously, as a conflict mitigation strategy. \"We have to ask ourselves why we continue to have conflict in Africa, why our women continue to be raped and violated. As we draft our interventions let us keep all these issues at the back of our minds.\"

The consultation meeting is running at the margins of the AU Peace and Security Council that will take place here tomorrow, 16 December 2014. Today representatives of women's networks and all experts on women peace and security here present will draft intervention messages on the need for strategic interventions to save women from different forms of devastating abuses and atrocities in conflict. These messages, together with other target issues related to the vulnerabilities and challenges faced by women in conflict situations as well as their role in building peace across the continent will be presented to the Open session of the Peace and Security Council tomorrow.