Planning Minister Lauds AU For Honouring Kofi Annan Posthumously

Professor George Gyan Baffour, the Minister of Planning, has lauded the African Union (AU) for posthumously honouring Mr Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General.

    The AU, at its Ninth High Level Retreat in Accra, gave the awards to two outstanding individuals who dedicated their lives to the promotion of peace and conflict prevention on the Continent and globally.

    They are the late Mr Kofi Annan and Madam Margaret Vogt.

    Mr Annan was honoured for being the one who pushed the agenda to discuss the HIV/AIDS epidemic and was a firm believer of the principle of multilateralism and the rule of international law.

    Madam Vogt was also honoured for being very instrumental in drafting the AU and ECOWAS Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution.

    "On behalf of the Government and people of Ghana and the Annan family, I wish to express profound gratitude to the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Mr Smail Chergui and the AU Commission for the award and honour. We are most grateful," Prof Gyan Baffour stated.

    He said the Government welcomed the Declaration adopted by the Retreat to further strengthen conflict prevention and mediation, which were seen as crosscutting and collaborative activities, and continued its shift towards a focus on service delivery to Member States and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) with the aim of enhancing their capacities and ability to respond to those challenges.

    "We are particularly pleased with the declaration that referenced preventive diplomacy and mediation as a firm stance that the African Union must take as against the invocation of the principle of National sovereignty," he said.

    "To fully optimise the capacity of the African Union in this regard, there is a need, as identified by the retreat, to operationalise and harmonise the activities of the Pan-African Network of the Wise (PanWise) and the Network for Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation (FEMWise) Africa)".