Sougourounoma Henri Kabore ,
Please provide us with your views on the state of peace in the country you will represent at the One Young World Summit
Since 2015 Burkina Faso has been hit by more than 35 terrorist strikes, killing about 150 people, mostly in the capital city Ouagadougou and in the Northern part of the country bordering with Mali and Niger. Despite claims that these acts are carried out on behalf of religions, they are helped by extreme poverty. Their consequences are huge: education is stopped with nearly 300 schools closed in the Northern region, infrastructure is destroyed, financial partners and investors leave, public services are stopped, diseases spread in refugees camps, and the death of soldiers and civilians leaves many orphans and widows. The public administration symbols and representatives are attacked. Poverty gets worse and everything has to be rebuilt again. Recently on March 2, 2018, terrorist attacks simultaneously striked the French Embassy in Ouagadougou and our Army Headquarters killing 8 of our soldiers. Previously, we were politically embarked on a transition following an uprising that swept through the country from October 30th to October 31st, 2014. Transitional government also encountered military disruption due to a former regiment “RSP”, that was faithful to former President Compaoré, which led to a military putsch in September 2015. All this violence prevents our country from developing and affects the resilience of the communities.
How do you think your work and/or activism contribute to countering violent extremism and a sustainable peace?
I initiate many activities, one of them is the “International Youth Forum on Culture of Peace” which is for youth from diverse religious backgrounds, to be trained on the culture of peace and to find solutions to counter/prevent violent extremism. This project won the UNESCO Grant and the Religions for Peace Youth Innovative Approach Prize in the category ”Preventing religious violent extremism”. Through interfaith panels, workshops and cultural activities, the first edition trained 500 West African participants in November 2017 in Ouagadougou in presence of the UN Special Envoy to
Burundi and former President of Burkina Faso, H.E.Mr KAFANDO. We also promoted the UN SC 2250 Resolution. Participants adopted the “Youth Declaration of Ouagadougou for Culture of Peace” and appointed Miss Burkina 2017 as our Youth Ambassador for Peace. We launched interfaith structures for youth, women and senior religious leaders. About 20,000 youth were reached directly and indirectly and are now aware of the importance of living together without conflict despite their differences. They adopted a culture of peace in their daily behavior and joined our interfaith structures to promote peace. Many Muslim youth now have more Christian friends. So my work contributes to lasting peace in Burkina Faso.