The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have organized a joint seminar on Sport and Peace starting August 30th to September 1st 2011 in Kigali Rwanda. According to the General Secretary of CECAFA Nicholas Musonye, all the eleven Member Associations of CECAFA have accepted to take part in the Workshop which will explore ways and means of using Sport in general and football in particular to promote peace in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa, Democratic Republic of Cong00o (DRC) whose neighbors Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania have also been invited to attend the seminar.

 CECAFA which also has programmes on HIV Aids, campaign Against Malaria, Friendship and Development etc have partnered with IOC before when they jointly organized Sports for Health seminar in Dar, Tanzania two years ago. The Kigali seminar will be hosted by Rwanda Olympic Committee. The seminar will also be attended by all eleven National Olympic Committees of CECAFA Zone and DRC. The president of IOC Jacques Rogge will also visit Rwanda and address the workshop on the closing day.

 Others speakers will include IOC Director Tommy Ganda Sithole, ANOCA President General Lassana Palenfo and Minister of Sports Rwanda Mitali Protais. Musonye has thanked IOC and Rwanda NOC for accepting his request to organise a seminar in Rwanda and explore ways of promoting peace in CECAFA region through sports. CECAFA region has been engulfed in war for many years and one of the hot spots include Somalia, Eritrea v Ethiopia conflict, North and South Sudan conflict, the chaos in Great Lakes region involving DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda and the 2008 chaos in Kenya after the disputed 2007 elections. Musonye who has been coordinating the seminar with Sithole lauded the IOC for engaging with organizations like CECAFA to promote peace in troubled areas.

 He said he will continue to engage with IOC, CAF and FIFA to organize more seminars and workshops for the region on various topics. IOC has in the meantime accepted to partner with CECAFA on a number of programmes. “CECAFA region was hardly hit by wars more than any other region in the continent so we want to over come hostilities in the region with sports for peace programs” CECACA secretary General Nicholas Musonye said in a press statement on Sunday.

 At the same time, Musonye has hailed Rwanda for accepting to host the seminar. He said the 1994 Rwanda experience will be one of the topics that will be discussed. Other topics included on the agenda will be the post-election chaos in Kenya, the Somalia conflict and the Eritrea-Ethiopia conflict.

 By Shafi’i Mohyaddin Abokar

CECAFA Media Committee Member

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