Ambassador Ellen Margrette Loj urges African leaders to bring their problems to world attention

               

THE Former Special Representative of  theUnited Nations Secretary General to Liberia, Ambassador Ellen Margrette Loj, has urged African representatives at the UN to strive to bring issues bothering the continent to the front burner for attention.
She explained that powerful nations were influenced by the media, which could concentrate on one problem at a time, hence the need for African representatives to bring issues bothering the continent to the fore for the consideration of the world body.
Ambassador Loj, who was answering a question after she had delivered a lecture to mark the 10th anniversary of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre and the inaugural Kofi Annan/Dag Hammarskjold Annual Lecture at the centre in Accra yesterday, advised African nations to let their voices be heard at the UN Security Council and get their act together.
Both Mr Annan and Mr Hammarskjold were successful UN Secretary General from Ghana and Sweden, respectively. Mr Hammarskjold was the second UN Secretary General from 1953 to 1961, while Mr Annan was the seventh from 1997 to 2006.
Referring to the current Mali crisis, Ambassador Loj, who has nearly 40 years’ experience as an international diplomat, said she was upset about what was happening in Mali because the international community was a bit late in responding to the crisis.
According to her, it was regrettable that attention was now been paid to the crisis.
Ambassador Loj, who is currently the Board Chairperson of Plan International, was of the strong opinion that although military intervention was critical, political intervention must be pursued at all times, since it was impossible to solve every problem through the use of military intervention.
She cautioned that if the Mali problems, which had their roots in what occurred during the Libyan hostilities which were not contained and spilled over to Mali, were not contained, they could spill over, culminating in serious repercussions for the rest of Africa.
Ambassador Loj was full of praise for former President J. A. Kufuor for his role in ensuring that the democratic process after the Liberian crisis was smooth and mentioned that when things were getting out of hand prior to the first Liberian democratic elections, he used his experience to whip all the parties in line.
She explained that when things were getting out of hand, President Kufuor told the leadership of political parties, some of whom wanted to cause trouble, that he did not become President of Ghana overnight but that it took him more than 40 years and several attempts before he won elections.
She indicated that President Kufuor’s threat that anyone who misbehaved would, in the final analysis, have a day with the International Criminal Court, made a great  impact on the Liberian political scene.
Ambassador Loj  stated that she had come to appreciate the fact that any peacekeeping, peace-building, national and state building without the active involvement of women  would be total failure and insisted  that all peace initiatives must involve women.
She said for peace-building efforts to be sustainable, women must be allowed to play active roles in them.
 The Joint AU/UN Representative for Darfur, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, urged African leaders to muster courage and develop strategic and innovative means to generate resources to fund their activities.