Cape Town — Experts in peace-building have called on African women to become involved with peacekeeping from the start of negotiations to end conflicts, and not to allow themselves to be excluded.
They were speaking at a discussion of the role of women in peacemaking, held during the conference, "Vital Voices of Africa," a leadership summit in Cape Town which is addressing the role of African women and girls in developing the continent.
Awut Deng Acuil, presidential adviser on gender and human rights to the government of southern Sudan, said although women were usually known as victims of war, they also had "the power and potential to defuse tension."
Inez McCormack, a leader of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and a peace leader from Northern Ireland, said when peace was being discussed, "Women must be in there from the very beginning."
She said women should create alliances across cultural groups and traditions: "It is not enough to be a group of women who look like each other and behave like each other and come from the same background."
Acuil and McCormack also urged that other groups should be included in peace building. Acuil said everybody in a community had a role to play, including the army and traditional healers. McCormack added that when going into peace negotiations, "it is important to look not only at what we need as women, but also at what are the democratic mechanisms… that would benefit others who are excluded."
Lungile Magagula, head of justice, peace and reconciliation of the Swaziland Council of Churches, said women were the most likely to be affected by violence and assault in times of conflict. Even though they were excluded during the negotiation of peace agreements, they needed to be "put in a position where they see that justice actually is done."
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Magagula also suggested that there should be programmes "to prevent the violence before it breaks out."
Judithe Registre, country director for the Sudan chapter office of Women International, said women were not sharing their experiences and expertise, or the different challenges they were faced with.
Jean Duff, managing director of the Centre for Global Justice and Reconciliation at the Cathedral College in Washington DC in the United States, said women could "take action for peace and justice" by becoming leaders in religious communities as well as by participating in inter-religious councils.
"I call on our sisters here to actively join alliances that bring the concerns of the faith community together with the concerns of the development community," Duff said.
The Cape Town summit was organised by Vital Voices Global Partnership, based in Washington DC.
