Mancham on high plateau of global peace making |26 March 2015

Sir James’ stature as an international statesman got further recognition this week when he addressed a special meeting of the management committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (Pabsec)


Seychelles founding President James R. Mancham's stature as an international statesman received further recognition on Monday this week when he got an invitation from Asaf Hajiyev, the secretary general of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (Pabsec), to address a special meeting of the management committee of the organisation at its prestigious headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey.

Sir James was asked to speak to the group on what he thought was the way forward to peace and reconciliation in the Black Sea area against the background of his experience in the Indian Ocean.

At the moment, Pabsec has a membership of 14 nations with a combined estimated population of over 350 million people - representing the republics of Albania, of Armenia, of Azerbaijan, of Bulgaria, of Georgia, of Greece, of Moldova, of Romania, of Serbia, of Turkey, of Ukraine and of the Russian Federation.

Continuing to focus its activities on priority economic topics, the Assembly has also embraced the following issues: Democracy and the rule of law; Combating organised crime and terrorism; Protection of the Black Sea environment; Forging cultural and educational cooperation between the member countries and; Strengthening cooperation at the level of civil society and cooperation with other European and international organisations.

In an introductory address, Secretary General Asaf Hajiyev said that he first met Sir James when both of them were attending a meeting of CAPDI (Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International) in Bali, Indonesia and that he was extremely impressed with the keynote address he delivered on the ‘Path to Peace in today's global village’ which the world has become.

He said he was equally impressed with Sir James' recently published book, ‘SEYCHELLES – The saga of a small nation navigating the cross currents of a big world’ in which he expressed his views concerning much required changes necessary for a better world order.

Sir James told the group that he would like to underline two words in the title of his new book. The first word is "navigating" and the second is "cross-current". He said that at this troublesome time in world history the countries or the Black Sea area are on line with the nations of the Indian Ocean when the game of survival requires the ability to navigate through various political cross-currents.

Sadly, Sir James said, he didn't see peace on tomorrow's horizons unless the big powers who are calling the tune agree to play within the philosophy of "right is might" as opposed to the policy of "might is right".

He said he was disturbed by the game of "smart power", which essentially meant combining hard power and soft power in order to score goals. Unfortunately the way "smart power" is being played today more often than not brings about confusion and polarisation and promotes distrust and mistrust among competing nations.

“World leaders must be reminded that there is no victory in war, one can win a battle but winning the war is another thing,” Sir James said, appealing to nations to converge on the need to find glory in winning the peace.

He said it was incredible to think how much money was being spent on military equipment and defence budgets when one realises the unfortunate level of poverty in so many parts of the world.

He said that more money should be spent on peace making rather than peace keeping.

The people of the world must be educated to accept the reality that today we live in a global village and that it is imperative for us to search for peace and harmony. Education is the only way to defuse extremism, fanaticism and hate.

"My voice could be regarded as a voice in the wilderness but the leaders of the powerful nations of the world with all their nuclear capacity and lethal weapons deep inside know that I am right and that it is not very comfortable to be king in the kingdom of hate and controversies."

Sir James was applauded for his words and presented with a commemorative plate in honour of his visit to Pabsec headquarters.
Sir James has had an impressive background in the promotion of peace and reconciliation. During his 15 years of exile in London, he promoted the Crusade for the Restoration of Democracy in Seychelles. But when he was allowed to return and assist in the restoration of multi-party democracy in the islands (April 1992), he surprised public-opinion generally and his supporters in particular when he stated that he had returned with the spirit of "an apostle of national reconciliation." Also during his exile in London, just before returning to Seychelles, he was advocating for a forum to promote national reconciliation between and within nations which advocated among other objectives the peaceful reunification of the Two Chinas.

In year 2000, Sir James was awarded trophy of the Washington-based Foundation for Democracy in Africa, at the time of the signing of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Agreement “for his contribution to peace, progress and prosperity in Africa”.

As an elected member of the Committee of Elders of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), in November 2012, he led a mediation mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) and to Rwanda (Kigali), with a view to avoiding a threatening war between these two neighbours.

As a co-chairman of the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), in February 2013, he addressed the youth of Kenya prior to a general election appealing for the Kenyan people to put the interest of Kenya first and to do away with tribalism within the spirit of “Harambee”, which existed at the time of Kenya's independence in December 1963. Also as co-chairman of the Federation for World Peace, Sir James delivered a keynote address in Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2013 - calling on all religious leaders in Nigeria to put aside their differences of dogma and theology to concentrate on the common cause of peace. Also, as an active member of the Belgrade-based European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD), his priority has been to “dry up the water of hate” swimming between Serbia and Kosovo.

For these and other similar initiatives, Sir James was awarded the Gusi Peace Prize for Statesmanship in Manila in June 2011 and the International Jurists Award for “his unique contribution to world peace” in Delhi, India, in December 2010.

Sir James is also chairman of the African Chapter of the Berlin-based Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) and of the Hamburg and London-based World Future Council (WFC), which has, as one of its main objectives, the provision of “a voice to the voiceless in the world” - e.g. a voice to the future generation and the children of tomorrow.

He is also a vice-chairman of the Chief Justices of the World Conference which is hosted in Lucknow, India, annually - and two years ago, he was elected a member of Le Club de Madrid which is an association comprising former democratic heads of state from all over the world.

Against this background, Sir James is mindful of creating an International Center for Peace Studies in Seychelles under the umbrella of the University of Seychelles (UniSey) - perhaps in association with ECPD, which itself has an association with the United Nations University of Peace, on the basis that the world “must spend more money on making peace than keeping peace”. In this connection, he commended the initiative taken by Seychelles President James Michel alongside President Jacob Zuma of South Africa to bring together the confronting political factions in the Malagasy Republic in order that they can find the required unity that would enable peace and economic development to take roots in the big island.
Sir James is expected back in Seychelles today.