OCHA launches "culture of peace" project

The United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Wednesday launched a country-wide project in Cote d'Ivoire aimed at fostering a culture of peace and building upon ongoing efforts to bring back stability to the war-torn West African country. "The Culture of Peace" project plans to implement six activities in southern and western Cote d'Ivoire. It will start with 'Prevention and conflict resolution through negotiation' activities in November in the western town of Guiglo, where the UN operates Cote d'Ivoire's sole refugee camp for civilians which had been caught in fighting between the Ivorian army and rebels at the height of the war. An innnovative "Peace train" will thereafter drive through Cote d'Ivoire, before heading north to Burkina Faso. Along its 1,000-km trip, the train will carry peace educators who will stop in towns along the way to teach people about peace. Other activities will involve some 100 primary school children in the economic capital, Abidjan, who will be organised to discuss "peace education and non-violence". Another 75 women will conduct a campaign on the same theme. "We will rely greatly on the media to reach the populations living in the southern and southwestern towns," OCHA Cote d'Ivoire head of office, Besida Tonwe, told IRIN at the launch of the project in Abidjan. Funded by the government of Belgium, the project involves several UN agencies, the Ivorian government and non-governmental organisations.