Sierra Leone’s former President Ernest Bai Koroma has said respect for everyone, irrespective of their size, is crucial for the consolidation of global peace.
Koroma, while addressing a global summit of business leaders in Portugal over the weekend, also said rebuilding infrastructure represented a critical pathway to peace, arguing that access to social services and markets builds hope among the citizenry and drives economic growth which generates the preconditions for peace and reconstruction.
“To consolidate peace requires opening the political space by encouraging genuine inclusiveness in governance – no community, country or region should be made to feel too small or inadequate to be accorded its rightful place in society,” Koroma said as part of a special presentation at the 2019 Horasis Global Meeting holding in Cascais, Portugal.
The summit began on April 6 and it is scheduled to end on April 9.
Koroma addressed the summit on the third day, April 8, speaking about his experience inheriting a country from war and turning it into a peace builder.
“I am proud that during my tenure, Sierra Leone, once devastated by conflict, enjoyed national cohesion, became the most peaceful since independence to the extent that we ‘exported’ peace by deploying our police and military as part of the African Union and United Nations peacekeeping missions in Sudan, Somalia and Mali. We also gained Grade A Status at the United Nations Human Rights Council, and by the time I left office, the International Peace Index ranked Sierra Leone as the most peaceful in West Africa and the third most peaceful in Africa,” he said.
Prior to his Special Address, Koroma, on Sunday April 7, was also among other notable global statesmen who shared their rich experience about why leaders must be visionary and how they should inspire their citizenry in the face of the continual shifting of the social, political, and economic landscapes.
That side event was convened on the theme: “Navigating a World in Transition”.
The event usually gathers business leaders, heads of governments, key cabinet ministers, and eminent thought leaders to advance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the world.
During this year’s four – day global conference, participants were expected to share their insights in view of the current ‘fragile and fractious’ state of our world.
Koroma’s statement centered on how the world could work together to attain sustainable peace.
A statement from the Office of the former Sierra Leonean leader said he was invited to deliver his statement as a recognition of his role as “champion of peace in Africa”.
KC/as/APA