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Africa
University and Swedish Embassy to host Dag Hammarsjkold commemorative
week
Africa
University
October 06, 2006
Former Zambian President,
Dr. Kenneth Kaunda is expected to be in Mutare next week for the
second annual Commemoration of the life and work of Dag Hammarsjkold.
The commemorative activities are taking place at Africa University,
from the 9th to the 13th of October, and will include major presentations
by eminent African scholars, cultural performances and two days
of seminars.
This year, Africa
University's celebration of Gender Week will run concurrently
with the Dag Hammarskjold commemorative activities. The Minister
of Gender, Women's Affairs and Community Development, Honourable
Oppah Muchinguri, will officially open the week's activities
on Monday, 9 October. The Ambassador of Sweden to Zimbabwe, His
Excellency Sten Rylander, will also participate in the official
opening ceremony. The opening will include the launch of a display
featuring the themes of this year's commemorative week, which
are Peace, Leadership, Gender and Development.
The Dag Hammarskjold
Commemorative Week at Africa University is a collaboration between
the University and the Embassy of Sweden in Harare. It focuses attention
on African processes and progress on bringing peace and prosperity
to all corners of the continent while recalling the leadership of
the United Nations' second Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold,
the man who first designed the mandate for United Nations peacekeeping
operations. Dag Hammarskjold served in the post from 1953 to 1961
and played a critical role in mitigating and resolving conflicts
in Korea and China and between Egypt and Israel over the Suez Canal.
He was a key figure in the Congo crisis, acting quickly to put a
mainly-African UN force in place that would preserve the peace while
keeping out of internal conflicts in the newly independent Zaire,
now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dag Hammarskjold died in a
plane crash near Ndola, Zambia
The highlights
of the week will include Dr Kenneth Kaunda's presentation
on The Legacy of Dag Hammarskjöld and the Search for Peace
and Development in Africa.
The UNDP Resident
Representative and Resident Coordinator of the United Nations system
in Zimbabwe, Dr. Agostinho Zacharias and Prof. Margaret Vogt, Director
of the Cabinet of the African Union will give major papers on peace-building
challenges in Africa on Monday afternoon. Dr. Zacharias will speak
on the topic, The United Nations Role in Peace-building: The Cases
of DRC and Darfur, while Prof. Vogt will speak on the African Union
Reforms and Peace-building Challenges in Africa.
Schools and
colleges in and around Mutare are invited to witness a Model United
Nations Debate beginning at 2 pm on Tuesday, 10 October at the Mutare
Hall (formerly Queen's Hall) in the city centre. The general
public in Mutare will also be treated to a staging of the Global
Arts/Rooftop Promotions production, Pregnant with Emotion, co-directed
by Daves Guzha and Walter Muparutsa. The performance, featuring
Chioniso Maraire, Chirikure Chirikure, Mandla Moyo and Thembi Ngwadi,
will take place on Tuesday evening at the Mutare Hall.
Seminars are
scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on campus. These will
feature many distinguished speakers including Prof. Walter Kamba,
a Visiting Distinguished Professor in Africa University's
Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance (IPLG) and holder
of the UNESCO/Herbert Chitepo Chair in Human Rights, Peace and Governance;
General Emmanuel Erskine, former Commander of the United Nations
Peacekeeping Forces in Lebanon and Cyprus; Brigadier General S.
B. Moyo of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Defence; Dr. Leonard Kapungu,
Executive Director of the Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa;
and Dr. Arthur Serota, Executive Director of the United Movement
to End Child Soldiering UMECS).
Africa University's
Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance (IPLG) is the focal
point for the Dag Hammarskjold Commemorative Week activities. In
2004 the University established the Institute, offering graduate
programmes, as a unique initiative which links issues of peace with
governance in Africa.
Dag Hammarskjöld
was born just at the turn of the 20th century in 1905 in Jonkoping,
Sweden and received training in Philosophy, Economics and Law. He
launched his career with the United Nations in 1953 when he was
elected as Secretary General; a position he served until the time
of his death. He was a human rights advocate and throughout his
career with the United Nations, sought ways to mediate conflict.
The Shakespearian quotation, 'the wicked deeds of man live
on, but the good are oft interred with their bones," is the
perfect anti-thesis of how the good works of one man, have, even
in death, touched positively the lives of millions of people across
the world, as his legacy for service and charity to mankind lives
on. Throughout the week, millions of people from across the globe
will pay homage to his dedication and service to man.
Visit the Africa
University fact
sheet
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