PRESS CONFERENCE BY SEYCHELLES

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SEYCHELLES

The first President of Seychelles and current leader of the opposition party, Sir James R. Mancham, said this afternoon that a forum for national reconciliation within nations should be established to address internal differences that caused a majority of the world's conflicts. He was speaking at a press conference at United Nations Headquarters.

Mr. Mancham said he had discussed the issue in 1996 with then Secretary- General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The two men had commented on how most of today's wars were within, rather than between countries. Subsequently, he had argued that a "first-past-the-post" system of democracy would not, in itself, solve internal conflicts if it was not accompanied by high-level national reconciliation efforts to defuse crises before they exploded.

Once established, a forum for national reconciliation should lead to the creation of an institute promoting the same ideals, Mr. Mancham went on to say. National reconciliation would be helpful to many States, including some African countries. The forum, and institute for national reconciliation within nations, should be promoted.

He said the idea was gathering momentum and had received the support of such international figures as the former Director-General of Political Affairs of the Commonwealth, Max Gaylard. The first forum meeting could be held in mid-1998 to lay down the guiding principles of subsequent meetings. National reconciliation should be handled with a sense of urgency, since it was necessary to have people solve their conflicts peacefully, live together and work towards stability.

"There are, unfortunately, far too many attempts to be the captain of the ship, in a situation where people, in fact, find themselves all in a small ship", Mr. Mancham said. "This jockeying for the best position, unfortunately, many times results in disaster, where everybody finds himself in a stormy ocean."

In an effort to realize his ideas of national reconciliation, Mr. Mancham said that he returned to Seychelles in 1992 to stand for elections, winning 42 per cent of the popular vote, even though he had been in exile for 16 years. He had then introduced a non-confrontational approach to opposition, which was essential for Seychelles' stability and economic progress.

Asked how the institute he was proposing would emerge and work, the former President said the first thing to do was to look for some funding. To get things started and to spread to his ideas on national reconciliation, the first forum meeting could be held next year in Seychelles. That country

Seychelles Press Conference - 2 - 17 July 1997

provided a good example of how the Government and the opposition co-existed, demonstrating the advantages of non-confrontational politics. The first forum should be international in scope and should lay down broad principles for its work.

He said the forum could lead to the creation of a related institute, composed of respected international figures, which would examine various issues and make comments that would be useful in many parts of the world. It could, for instance, discuss the continued internal conflict in Kenya and suggest means to resolve it. Rather than just promoting "first-past-the-post" democracy, the international community should try other methods to overcome internal frictions before they exploded.

Mr. Mancham said that, during his trip to New York, he had spoken to Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall and to the President of the International Peace Academy, Olara Otunnu. Both of them had been supportive of his proposal.

* *** *