Ethiopia: Regional meeting on peace, state-building under way

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

September 8, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – An Africa regional consultation on peace, state-building and security reinforcement in countries in conflict and post-conflict countries began in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Wednesday, according to a statement from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Organised by AfDB and its international partners, the three-day regional meeting aims to contribute in finalising the agenda of the fourth high-level forum on the efficacy of aid that will hold this year in Busan, South Korea.

The AfDB conference is “designed to provide substantive ideas and inputs to feed into the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) agenda as well as into other on-going processes focused on issues of conflict and fragility”.

Participants will consider trends and specific challenges of conflict and fragility on the African continent. They will discuss a consensus on peace-building and state-building and will propose new approaches to development for countries affected by conflicts or crisis.

The co-organisers include the International Dialogue on Peace-building and State-building, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the fragile and post-conflict countries group, as well as the African Union Commission and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Bella Bird, country cirector of World Bank, to South Sudan is among headline speakers at the meeting.

(ST)