ACCORD’s Training for Peace (TfP) Programme will conduct a Civilian Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Course (CPPC), focusing on Mission Preparedness for a total 25 participants selected from all over Africa. The course will be held in Pretoria, South Africa from 7-18 August 2006, and aims to serve as the foundation course for civilians interested in serving in a variety of roles in United Nations (UN) or African peacekeeping or peacebuilding operations.

ACCORD’s Training for Peace (TfP) in Africa Programme was invited by the Kenya Peace Support Training Centre (KPSTC) to participate in their sixth United Nations (UN) Civilian Police training course. The training, conducted over a three week period, was held in Karen, Nairobi and the TfP Programme conducted the modules on conflict analysis, negotiation and mediation on 26 June 2006.

ACCORD’s Training for Peace (TfP) Senior Programme Officer, Mrs Karishma Rajoo, participated in the United Nations (UN) Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) Training Development Workshop on Gender Equality in Peacekeeping in Windhoek, Namibia, from 30 June-4 July.

Below follows the text of ACCORD Founder and Executive Director, Vasu Gounden's speech at the 2006 Africa Peace Award ceremony...

A top African award for contribution to peace and conflict management – particularly in the field of women’s rights and empowerment – was presented to the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) at a glittering ceremony in the Malian capital, Bamako, last night.

On Saturday 17 June 2006 ACCORD’s Burundi Programme staff participated in a ‘Walk for Refugees’ in Bujumbura, Burundi. This walk was organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bujumbura, Burundi to create awareness regarding refugees. Following democratic elections in 2005, Burundian refugees are returning to Burundi with hope of a new life.

The ACCORD Burundi office will be hosting a consultative workshop on the United Nation’s Peace Building Commission (UNPBC) with a selection of civil society organisations (CSO’s) in Bujumbura, Burundi on 22 July 2006. The PBC is the first body in the UN’s 60 year history to focus on peace-building and conflict prevention, and was established to address a critical gap within the United Nations and the global system

ACCORD’s Research Unit will host an experts’ workshop on ‘Peace Agreements in Southern Africa’ from 3-5 May 2006 at the Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria. The workshop will host peace processes facilitators and mediators as well as diplomats, scholars, researchers, and policy makers. Institutions represented will range from governments, academic institutions to civil society organisations.

On 24 June, The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, together with Engen Petroleum as main sponsor, hosted the 2006 Africa Peace Award in Durban, South Africa. The 2006 award was presented to the Nation of Burundi, for outstanding achievements in settling years of civil war in a peace process that resulted in a negotiated settlement and the successful democratic election of a new government in 2005.

Richard Kamidza, Senior Researcher at ACCORD, recently attended a two-day consultative workshop in Uppsala, Sweden, to look at poverty reduction through regional cooperation. The workshop was organised by the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), on behalf of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)