No fewer than 70 researchers and policy makers from more than ten different African countries, Thursday, gathered in Nigeria’s capital Abuja for a two-day policy dialogue on how regional economic communities, like Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS and The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD, can promote peace in Africa.

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi is the keynote speaker.

Africa’s eight Regional Economic Communities were primarily set up to promote economic
integration.

Today they play an increasingly important role also in conflict resolution and peacebuilding in countries like Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone and elsewhere in Africa.

“The performance of traditional organizations like the United Nations, UN has not been impressive. Also, most of the global powers are now retreating from active engagement outside their immediate geographical locations. In this context regional organizations have become increasingly visible in promoting peace and development”, said Professor Victor Adetula, head of research at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), who co-organises this event together with the Nigerian Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) and the African Peacebuilding Network, in partnership with ECOWAS and IGAD.

Also, Professor Oshita Oshita, Director General of IPCR, said: “The purpose of this event is to create links. Links between East and West African experiences. Links between research and policy making. Links between lessons learned from prior conflicts to future peacebuilding processes. To achieve this we will look from within and gather African scholars to exchange ideas on how we deal with conflict resolution in different African contexts.”

The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) is a research centre, a think-tank and an agency to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity for the promotion of peace and conflict prevention, management and resolution.

The Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) is a center for research, documentation and information on
Africa. It is based in Uppsala, Sweden, and jointly financed by the governments of Finland,
Iceland and Sweden.

The African Peacebuilding Network (APN) is a part of the US-based non-profit Social Science
Research Council (SSRC). APN’s mission is to support independent African research on
peacebuilding and its integration into regional and global policy.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional economic
community. Member countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’ Ivoire, The Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is a regional economic community.
Member countries are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and
Uganda.