By Jerromie S. Walters
Liberia’s immediate former Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor has been appointed as the Executive Secretary of the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM –
MIPREDA)
An AFLPM -MIPREDA press release reads, “The Assembly further nominated
H.E Chief Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor, a Former First Lady and the Former Vice President of the Republic of Liberia as theExecutive Secretary who will assume Office under the new nomenclature of SECRETARY – GENERAL of the African First Ladies Peace Mission.”
The former vice president was appointed at Communiqué of the Emergency Meeting of
the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM – MIPREDA) on 1st February 2024
(Zoom Virtual Meeting). Also on said occasion, the body nominated H.E Mrs. Fatoumatta Bah Barrow, First Lady of the Republic of The Gambia, as President of AFLPM-
MIPREDA, and H.E Mme Fatima Vila Nova, First Lady of the Democratic Republic of
Sao Tome and Principe as Vice President of AFLPM-MIPREDA.
In attendance were the members of the Honorary Advisory Council, Current First
Ladies and Past First Ladies of African States.
“Having extensively discussed the leadership and future of AFLPM-MIPREDA the following decisions were made and are to take immediate effect. With this new leadership in place, the Assembly says it is confident that a new dawn has emerged for AFLPM-MIPREDA.
The Assembly concluded the meeting by asserting that, the urgency of peacebuilding cannot be overstated and AFLPM- MIPREDA is committed to working assiduously toward the Mission, Vision, and Strategic objective of the Organization for the promotion of peace, stability, and development in Africa.
African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM) known by its French acronym MIPREDA was an outcome of the 1995 Fourth World Conference in Beijing on women where a significant initiative was taken to establish the African First Ladies Forum by African wives of Heads of State/Presidents who came together as ambassadors of peace during the conference.
The initiative was taken by the First Ladies of Nigeria, Gambia, Benin, Uganda, Lesotho, and Burundi to undertake a peace mission to the rest of Africa and advocate for the inclusion of women in negotiation teams to serve as mechanisms of conflict prevention, management, and resolution throughout Africa.
It started in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1996. The supreme organ of the mission is the First Ladies Conference. Having held several regional meetings, the “Abuja Declaration of Africa’s First Ladies on Peace and Humanitarian Issues” was made in 1996. As of 2015 to date, the Peace Mission has 45 member countries.
The coalition of African First Ladies Peace Mission represents critical stakeholders that can contribute to the mitigation of violent conflicts and minimize the negative impact on the people, especially women and children of Africa who are the most vulnerable groups in conflict situations.
The contribution of various stakeholders to prevent, manage, and resolve them will transform the continent and attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, conflict mitigation is an imperative that would enhance the attainment of the desired goals of peace and sustainable development in Africa.
