Mozambique President Promotes Peace

Mozambique’s President Joaquim Chissano delivered an uplifting speech at the Kennedy School of Government yesterday, praising multinational organizations for promoting peace and development in Africa.

A veteran of the war of independence against Portugal, Chissano said his proudest accomplishments were bringing peace to Mozambique and helping the country’s economy transition from Marxism to capitalism.

The speech began by noting a positive trend in Africa: the number of violent conflicts has decreased by half within the last five years. “Africa is winning the battle to resolve violent conflicts on the continent,” Chissano said.

Though he would not lump together the “diverse and complex” conflicts in Africa, he said that disputes flourish in conditions of poverty. “With sustained economic growth,” Chissano said, “potential for violence decreases.”

Chissano also touted the value of Pan-African organizations in resolving and preventing conflicts. “Africans share the same destiny, and as such they need to unite and act collectively,” he said. “It is [the] right of the African Union (AU) to intervene when there are massacres, genocides and crimes against humanity. No African country can hide behind sovereignty to oppress.”

In a demonstration of its commitment to the preservation of human rights, Mozambique recently sent a small peacekeeping force to Burundi.

Chissano warned that some non-governmental organizations can cause conflict by undermining the authority of the government and “portraying themselves as saviors.”

“The good NGOs,” Chissano said, “are those who come and put their activity in harmony with the policies of the countries where they work.” He said the bad NGOs “create conflict instead of resolving it.”

Though much of Chissano’s speech was focused on the importance of multinational bodies, he also recognized the limits of such organizations.

He told a questioner that the AU’s response in Sudan was inadequate, even though the organization was doing all it could do given its resources.

He asked Harvard to help by advising NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

Though the bulk of the address was about the entire continent, Chissano did devote some time specifically to Mozambique.

Chissano said he took great pride in his country’s economic development.

Mozambique, a formerly Marxist country, had the fastest growing economy in the world in the late nineties. “We are busy creating Capitalists,” Chissano said. “There was a time when people were afraid of us because we were Marxists.”