Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete Acknowledged as Peace Icons as African Union Peace and Security Council Marks 20 Years

Former Presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania have been acknowledged as icons of peace in Africa. This was during the 20 years’ celebrations of the African Union Peace and Security Committee. The colorful function was held in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and presided over by the host President, H.E Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The celebrations ran on a theme: “Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Building a Secure, Peaceful and Prosperous Africa.”

President Suluhu decorated the former Presidents Obasanjo and Kikwete. She called upon current African leaders to always strive for peace not only in their countries but also in the African continent at large.

Obasanjo entered electoral politics in Nigeria, becoming the PDP candidate for the 1999 presidential election which he won comfortably. As president, he de-politicised the military and both expanded the police and mobilised the army to combat widespread ethnic, religious, and secessionist violence.

Kikwete was the fourth president of Tanzania having been in office from 2005-2015. His record as far as peacekeeping is also so significant not only in Tanzania but also on the African continent and beyond.

The Africa Youth Ambassador for Peace representing the East African region under the African Union Political Affairs, Peace and Security department Nashiba Nakabira has called on parents to take good care of their children and guidance in teams of handling the modern technology devices that are currently accessible to most of the children irrespective of their age.

Nakabira has warned that if parents don’t wake up and limit their children from the use of these modern technology devices, they are likely to turn into a very big challenge for the children and youth in 20 years to come.

“Parents in Africa are so careless when it comes to managing their children and the technological devices. We all need technology but it must be limited when it comes to children. Unlimited technological devices are a time bomb if not addressed in a logical manner,” she warned.
Nakabira said that as a result of the abuse of technology, African countries are currently experiencing vast cybercrimes which are mainly engineered by the youth.

“Technology without control is most likely to land our African Countries into inter-country peace conflicts. Such can be orchestrated through the use of social media platforms,” she said.

She called upon African leaders and others in retirement to keep putting in place ways of peacekeeping and security maintenance on the continent to avoid getting into what is today happening between Russia and Ukraine.

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