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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Wednesday said addressing the root causes of conflicts was critical in promoting inclusive development and the consolidation of peace on the African Continent.

He said, to reduce the likelihood of conflicts, and the relapse of violence in post conflict countries, it was essential that the issues of inequality, unemployment, poverty, human rights abuses, climate change, governance, weak law enforcement, illicit national and transnational crime, and the issue of inequitable resource allocation, are tackled holistically.

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Wednesday, when he addressed 77 graduands, who had completed the Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security Studies, Master of Arts in Gender, Peace & Security, and Executive Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace & Security Studies programmes at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping and Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra.

Urging the graduands of the KAIPTC) to help address the root causes of conflicts on the continent, the President reminded them that the nature of threats to security on the Continent had changed, demanding new approaches and increased coordination and collaboration between and among nations and societies.

The issues of chieftaincy conflicts, armed robberies, land disputes, religious intolerance, ethnic conflicts and political rivalry, are being compounded by contemporary threats like drug and human trafficking, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, cyber-crime and activities of nomadic herdsmen.

Additionally, the emergence of transnational organised crimes, together with the evolving nature of terrorism, especially in the Sahel region continues to undermine efforts of creating a progressive, prosperous, peaceful and stable continent.

The President told the graduands to leverage on the knowledge gained from the KAIPTC to advance their functional competencies in mitigating conflicts and issues that led to conflict on the Continent.

“Having gone through this institution, you are primed with problem-solving ideas and initiatives: the nation, the continent of Africa, and the world at large await your contributions, no matter how small, to securing our peace.

"There is, today, limited room for conventional thinking. Therefore, always strive to be different, and do not be afraid of failure,” he told the graduands.

President Akufo-Addo pledged governments support to enable the KAIPTC to execute its mandate and make it an indispensable institution on the Continent.

He said with Government embarking on an industrialisation agenda, with the aim of transforming the structure of the Ghanaian economy from one dependent on the production and export of raw materials to a knowledge-based, value-added, industrialised economy, with a modernized agriculture, institutions like KAIPTC were critical in imparting the skills necessary to achieving that vision.