Different scholars and political leaders attempted to advocate peace to the world. Some of them eloquently advocated the need for peace. Most scholars agreed that peace doesn’t mean absence of conflict. They justified their argument saying peace is all about the ability of handling conflicts in a peaceful manner.
In fact, handling conflicts peacefully is one significant aspect of brining peace. But what if ending all kinds of wars and conflicts and live on this land with love and hope. It is just denying one another; denying the belongings to one family. Mother Teresa put this in her own words as, “If we have no peace, we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
The need for peace is unquestionable for a healthy economic and human development. But in the reality peace is not an easy reach. It needs not only too much sacrifice but also could be building on a daily, weekly and monthly process.
Mahatma Gandhi wrote: “I object to violence because when it appears to do well, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” In the same token, World peace advocate Man Hee Lee said, “If we work jointly, we will certainly do peace.”
Many of us might imagine the impossibility of achieving world peace. But who is responsible for war and conflict? I think the answer is quite simple, just we ourselves. If we are powerful enough to instigate havoc, war and conflict among people in this earthly life, why will it be impossible to ensure peace to this demanding world?
The efforts exerted at international, continental and national levels rarely managed to bring an enduring peace to the world. As a result, mankind failed to enjoy freedom, justice and peace. If we are to create and maintain world peace and hand over stable planet to the posterity, we have to create a world free of wars and conflicts.
No matter how challenging it might be, the international community should stop singing war songs and stick on working industriously to ensure peace to the world. Politicians, head of states, religious leaders, scholars, the youth and women should work, being hand in glove, for this very noble responsibility.
It is only on the top of guaranteeing peace that people all over the world enjoy their healthy day to day activities; either do countries. It is impossible to think about economic development and prosperity unless one secure peace and stability.
The international community took a lesson from past century wars and conflicts. The entire world realized how war and its consequences devastated the life of the people. It is obvious that the loss of life, displacement and destruction of property are the only consequences.
It proved that the world on which we live has become inconvenient for its people, the burning world allowed only the fittest to survive on it. It absolutely failed to guarantee its people to breathe peaceful air.
There are considerable number of civil and country cross wars in every corner of the globe. Although there are some efforts to end these wars, no remarkable achievement is gained so far as efforts for the cessation of war here and there are unconsolidated.
If we take Africa, for instance, there are a number of conflicts. The people were dying and displacing from their very villages due to instability and conflicts. According to recent studies the number of Africans displaced from their villages due to unnecessary and irresponsible wars has ever been increasing.
If we ask, which African country is stable nowadays? Which country is free of conflict? What portion of the world population is free from the threats of terrorists? Which country guaranteed its citizens their rights of living peacefully? All these remained being questions for centuries. Their answer also remained ‘none’. In fact, it differs from country to country, but as a general understanding these questions remained unanswered. The people were unable to coexist due to self centered groups who under the pretext of various reasons exacerbate conflicts among the people.
The substance in this reference is the fact that leaders and some groups who have vested any kind of interest have still remained against peace and stability. At this time leaders like Issayas Afeworki have been collaborating and exerted unreserved effort in destabilizing other countries.
Therefore, although achieving peace is possible, the challenges come from within. For every action to bring peace, there is an equal and opposite reaction to spoil the peace. However, nothing is impossible if we cooperate for one vision: to see the cessation of war and achieving world peace, we can do it. What we have learnt from the past and current conflicts and wars is the need to consolidate efforts exerted here and there to ensure peace around the world.
What were the consequences of the wars in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and other countries? All those wars took the lives of millions of work forces and destroyed trillions of wealth at the same time displaced millions of citizens from their very village and aggravated the misery of the people.
The African continent provides its citizens only injustice. It even failed to meaningfully prevent the people from the dangers and threats of terrorist groups. Respecting the very right of the people to live peacefully has become so challenging to many of the states in the continent.
I would like to emphasize that there is a miss link in valuing peace. What do the principles of the charter of the United Nations, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other continental instruments contribute in this regard? I dare say nix.
For example, the United Nations Security Council has put a sanction on different countries when it ascertained that they violated international conventions and laws. But it only remained in black and white. No country has so far compelled to change its stand due to such sanctions.
One among those states is the rogue state in Eritrea. The United Nations sanctioned the state in Asmara for escalating the conflict in Somalia and other countries in Africa via supporting terrorist groups.
The sanction was made on the government of Eritrea as it was trained al-Shabab and other terrorist groups. It was also supplying the necessary weapons and other military logistics. However, the festering question is to what extent does the sanction function? How strong is the binding force of the sanction? I am afraid to say, no, not by a long chalk!
The Eritrean government has strengthened its support to al-Shabab and other terrorist groups working hard to poison the peace of the Horn. This vividly implies the international and continental laws have remained simply in black and white. In other words, they are not powerful enough to have a binding force. As a result, the efforts to lasting peace have been facing challenges. People have been almost forgotten belonging to the same family. They murdered to one another as if they came from different species.