By Maimuna Sey-Jawo
The West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) The Gambia, with funding From GIZ and the European Union, on Tuesday embarks on a three days convergence, Specialized Training on Mediation, Prevention, Diplomacy, Advocacy and Dialogue for National Election Response Group (NERG) Members.
The training is expected to enhance knowledge and skill of the NERG Members in mediation, dialogue and preventive diplomacy, and also build their knowledge on election dispute management and preventive mechanisms enhance.
Speaking at the ceremony held at Senegambia Beach Hotel in Kololi, Dr David Tommy Chairman of NERG, said handling everything diplomatically is something very important. He noted that during the training they are expecting to strengthen knowledge and skills of each member to enable them to handle disputes for election, and to be able to effectively support the prevention and mitigation of election crime and also to be able to communicate to the community.
Dr. Tommy said among the responsibilities of NERG, is to discuss, develop, recommend and respond to violent threats to the election cycle in The Gambia.
NERG will ensure that the response strategies are in tandem with electoral laws, sensitive to human security and adhere to ethics and best practice of conflict prevention and dispute management, he added.
In her opening remarks, Salaman Njie, project coordinator WANEP The Gambia disclosed that for the past three months they have been very engaging and able to come up with Standard operating procedure (SOP). And last week, also, they released their first situational report which already shared with their partners.
“The December 2021 will have a profound consequence on the democratic its trajectory and consolidation of the game of the 2016 regime change. The threats and potential for violence conflict is emanate as politicians continue to use ethnicity as a mechanism for voter’s mobilization,” she said.
Madam Njie added, despite the ongoing transitional justice processes and other reforms advances, established with the aim of strengthen effort to ensure a peaceful transitional process, there still remain challenges in term of peace and security which in the long run can threaten the peaceful conduct of election.
“That make the December 4 election a very critical juncture for peace and stability in this country it is in view of this high stake and strategic important that WANEP as part of its effort to contribute to strengthening regional and national capacities that enhance peaceful electoral system and political stability in west Africa including the Gambia,” she said.
She thanked the funders of the training and expressed hope that at end of the three days training participants will build their capacity to effectively support the prevention and mitigation of election related, political or communal conflict, at local and national level before, during and after the election.
