From Africa Recovery, Vol.13#1 (June 1999), Watch page

ZANZIBAR DECLARATION
African women demand greater peace role

Women have a central role to play in achieving peace in Africa, hundreds of women from throughout the continent declared at the close of a 17-20 April conference in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Organized by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with the support of the Tanzanian government and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the deliberations attracted some 300 women, including 25 cabinet ministers and Ugandan Vice-President Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe. In addition to the final Zanzibar Declaration, the participants adopted a wide-ranging Women's Agenda for a Culture of Peace in Africa and decided that women's groups in areas of conflict -- notably Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Great Lakes region, and Sierra Leone -- would try to initiate negotiations.

"African women demand that governments, the OAU and the United Nations system take prompt and effective action to enforce equitable representation of women in peace negotiations, conflict prevention and resolution," stated the Zanzibar Declaration.

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