SIERRA LEONE: 'No Threat to Peace' - EED's Shecku Mansaray

The German Protestant Church Development Service (EED) in collaboration with the Association for Development Cooperation (AGEH) and the Civil Peace Service partners (CPS) said they are poised to make Sierra Leone a very peaceful nation.

Speaking during a press conference held at the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) hall in Freetown, EED coordinator Shecku Mansaray told journalists that the aforementioned non-governmental organisations will soon join their partners to observe the International Day of Peace, which is on 21st September ever year. The theme for this year's celebration is: "Making Peace work in the Mano River region. No threat to Peace in Sierra Leone".

Mansaray said after the 11-year civil war which claimed over 200,000 lives and left the country badly devastated ended 8 years ago, development partners in Sierra Leone and Liberia - working with EED, AGEH and CPS program - made the revelation that it is more rewarding to promote peaceful co-existence in post-war societies than hope for an interventionist force at the break of the war.

Coordinator of AGEH, Manfred Rink said EED and AGEH are organizing joint activities in Freetown, Bo, Kenema and Makeni simultaneously wherein people from all walks of life including school children, bike riders and the disabled work in solidarity for lasting peace.

He said they are going to march through the streets of the country with banners and placards preaching peace messages to all and sundry, to be followed by peace statements to be presented by eminent personalities.

"It is hoped that with strong political will on the part of the government of Sierra Leone coupled with the cooperation of all Sierra Leoneans and development partners, this country will overcome its despicable past and make way for a brighter future," Rink noted.