The Center for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding (CECPAP) has taken peace and reconciliation dialogue to rural Liberia.
Already, the group has concluded a two-day reconciliation dialogue session in Zuo-Zualay, Nimba County.
At the end of the session on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, participants resolved to work for peace and unity in their various places of work, worship centers, schools, and communities.
It can be recalled Zou-Zualay became a hot spot during the 2023 presidential and legislative elections when political conflict ensued between the then Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) campaigner Anthony Quiwonkpa on one hand and Unity Party Vice Standard Bearer, now Vice President of Liberia Jeremiah Kpan Koung and Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson on the opposite side.
According to reports, the political conflict between two parties got tensed to the extent that the former had to open gunfire on the latter, wounding several supporters of the Unity Party.
A dispatch from Zuo-Zualay in Nimba County disclosed that supporters of Anthony Quiwonkpa denied the story saying that such a horrific act never occurred in their community during the electoral season while supporters of the Unity Party affirmed the act.
Amidst the argument in the hall, CECPAP’s Executive Director, Charles Crawford informed the participants that the presence of his organization in Zuo-Zualay was not an investigative mission, but a mission to help them live in peace and harmony through reconciliation.
The reconciliation dialogue session was held under the theme: A Reconciled Society for A Sustainable Growth. The dialogue session brought together 25 participants from the religious and disable communities, women and youth groups, among others.
During the two-day session held in Zou-Zualay, participants deliberated on issues they see befitting to the growth of their community and its people. One of the issues, according to the participants that is mostly important to them, is for them (dwellers of Zou-Zualay) to reunite for the sole purpose of moving their town and county forward in all aspects of life.
CECPAP’s reconciliation dialogue session is expected to reach areas identified by the Peace Building Office (PBO) as hot spots during the 2023 presidential and legislative elections. Already, CECPAP has reached Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County and Zuo-Zualay, Nimba County.
Meanwhile, the CECPAP is expected to begin another two-day reconciliation dialogue with residents of Bellefani, Bong County today. After Bong County, the Peacebuilding group will move to Foya, Lofa County, and Porkpa, Grand Cape Mount County to conduct similar dialogue with residents of those communities.
The reconciliation dialogue is being organized and facilitated by CECPAP with funding provided by the UN Peacebuilding Fund. The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) is supervising the implementation of the project.
