CONAREG: Raises media awareness with messages of peace
The National Coalition of Support for Reconciliation in Guinea (CONAREG) is part of the sensitization of the media for the maintenance of peace and social tranquility during this period of major socio-political crisis. It is in this dynamic that CONAREG organized a round table on peace this Wednesday, February 26, 2020, in favor of the media. The approach aimed to aid journalists on the concepts of peace and cohesion a few days before the double legislative and referendum polls of March 1, Guineematin.com learned on site through one of its reporters.
This meeting took place in the premises of the Guinean Organization for the Defense of Human Rights (OGDH), in the Belle Vue district in the municipality of Dixinn. It follows the situation that Guinea is going through at the moment, with turmoil that has greatly weakened peace and the social fabric. CONAREG found it useful to organize this round table to invite journalists to disseminate messages of peace through the various information channels (radio, news site, TVs and newspapers).
Chaikou Baldé, communication officer of the National Coalition for Support to Reconciliation in Guinea (CONAREG), returned to the reasons for this initiative. “We are all Guineans and we know what we are going through in this country since the announcement of the new constitution by the President of the Republic. As you know, this gives rise to a lot of contestation, controversy and opposition. We therefore have two camps, the YES and the NO. Those who are opposed to this project are in the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC) and those who are in favor are in the Democratic Coalition for the New Constitution (CODENOC).
As an umbrella structure that brings together associations for the defense of human rights, associations of victims and women and men of the media, we said to ourselves, we had to launch an alert, try to sensitize everyone so that we manage to come out of these elections with zero deaths, zero injuries and zero material damage. We have brought together peace actors so that they can send messages of peace to everyone, not only to the men and women of the media so that we can witness peaceful elections, ”suggested Mr. Baldé.
Taking part in this round table as a panelist, Ibrahima Aminata Diallo, president of the Platform of Young Leaders of the Hamdallaye-Kagbélen Axis for Democracy and Development (PJDD) did not hide his opposition to the draft new constitution. The civil society activist maintains that peace is built on respect for the legal texts that govern our country. “You cannot put someone into forced silence and demand peace. We can only do our role which is to remind, raise awareness, invite and while recalling that this peace is not a decree but it is a process that is built around respect for the law.
We did not come here only as actors of peace, we are for democratic alternation in Guinea. We are in a non-violent struggle for respect for democracy in Guinea, but we do not invite anyone to violence. Guinea’s history could change on or after March 1. So, I invite Guineans to use non-violent struggle to express their indignation while calling on the defense and security forces to respect article 6 of the constitution which says that no one has the right to execute . a manifestly illegal order ”.
As for the beneficiaries, this CONAREG initiative is well received. This is the case of Amadou Lama Diallo, journalist at the national radio. “We journalists have a role to play in peacebuilding. With the multiple acts of violence that we are experiencing lately in Conakry and in the interior of the country, it is important, even necessary, to organize this round table. We must convey messages of peace and avoid messages of violence, ”he advised.