WANEP trains Community Monitoring Teams in Western Region

Takoradi, July 28, GNA 97 The West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP), a non-governmental organization, has trained twenty-five persons i= n conflict management, resolution and reporting early warning signals in conflict prone areas in the Western Region.

This is to ensure the amicable resolution of prospective conflicts and preventing them from degenerating into full-blown war. The participants were drawn from conflict hot-spots such as Taleku-Bokazo, Bonwire, Sefwi-Wiawso, Egyambra, Bamianko, Apremdu, Princess-Town and Akatakyi. Addressing the participants at a capacity-building workshop on "Introduction to Peacebuilding, Conflict Transformation and Early Warning= " held for the Community Monitoring Team (CTMs) in Western Region on Wednesday, Mr. Justin Bayor, National Network Coordinator for WANEP, tasked participants with the responsibility of promoting peace in their communities.

The workshop was funded by STAR-Ghana under a project dubbed 93Ghana Alert Project - Mitigating Oil Conflict".

"This training programme comes on the heels of oil discovery in the Region and therefore we anticipate that there would be the possibility of conflicts", Mr Bayor said.

He said for the Region in particular and the nation at large to avoid the oil curse as had been the case in some oil producing countries, the authorities concerned must be proactive to avoid any oil-related conflicts. Mr Bayor entreated the workshop participants to be proactive to identify the nature and sources of conflict as well as methods of resolution, to prevent the conflict from escalating. To achieve peace in the country, he said, there must be grassroots participation in resolution of conflicts and the strengthening of peace-building initiatives.

Some of the topics treated included basic conflict management and resolution, early conflict warning signals, and data processing, among others.