ATTENTION: Africa, International, Broadcast, and Assignment Editors
Potsdam, Germany - Leading international experts will gather in Potsdam, Germany this week to discuss global and regional approaches to peacekeeping in Africa at the Potsdam Spring Dialogues 2008.
Regionalization in Africa raises both high hopes and serious questions about the division of labor between the UN and different regional and sub-regional actors.
The two day conference, held April 4 and 5 at the Hotel Voltaire in Potsdam, Germany, will examine the role of different global, regional, subregional and external actors in African peacekeeping.
The Potsdam Spring Dialogues 2008 "Shared Responsibility to Protect? Global and Regional Approaches to Peacekeeping in Africa," will explore questions such as: What impact do African regional arrangements have on questions of war, peacekeeping and security on the continent? How can the regional actors' problems regarding mandates and scarce resources be tackled? These questions will be dealt with in depth at the Potsdam Spring Dialogues 2008, with a particular look at Burundi, West Africa and Sudan, tracing developments and analyzing the respective consequences.
EXPERTS AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT:
Col. Festus B. Aboagye - Former Senior Military Advisor to the Head of the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB), Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Tshwane (Pretoria)
Maj.-Gen. John Attipoe - Commandant, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Accra
Mr. Hany Besada - Senior Researcher, The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Waterloo
Mr. Henri Boshoff - Military Analyst, African Security Analysis Programme, Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Tshwane (Pretoria)
Dr. Jean-Bosco Butera - Director, Africa Programme, United Nations University for Peace, Addis Ababa
Ms. Tracy Dexter - Great Lakes Programme, International Alert, Bujumbura
Ms. Thelma Ekiyor - Executive Director, West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), Accra
Dr. Gerd Harms - State Secretary and Commissioner of Land Brandenburg to the Federal Government and for European Matters, Potsdam, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Development and Peace Foundation
H.E. Ambassador Dr. Georg Lennkh - Special Envoy for Africa, The Austrian Foreign Ministry, Vienna
Mr. Abdul Mohammed - Political Affairs Department, African Union/United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), El Fasher, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC)
Dr. Michèle Roth - Executive Director, Development and Peace Foundation (SEF), Bonn
Dr. Huda Seif - Political Adviser to the Special Representative of the European Union for Sudan, EUSR's Representative to the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC), Khartoum
Ms. Anna Strzaska - Peace Facility/pan-African Issues, Development Directorate-General, European Commission, Brussels
EVENT:
Potsdam Spring Dialogues 2008 "Shared Responsibility to Protect? Global and Regional Approaches to Peacekeeping in Africa"
DATE:
Friday, April 4 - Saturday, April 5, 2008
LOCATION:
Hotel Voltaire, Potsdam, Germany