UN General Assembly
1998

diplomacy an ever-growing role in the resolution of conflicts. The United Nations and regional organizations such as the Organization of African Unity can bring a great deal to this task. The OAU, for example, possesses a Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and 17 Resolution. Created in Cairo in 1993, this Mechanism, whose effectiveness and practicality we are working to ensure, should to be the crucible in which a genuine preventive diplomacy can be forged. That is all the more imperative since the consequences of conflicts, whether internal or international, are always devastating. At the institutional level, therefore, we are equipped to respond to conflicts, and we also have the will to do so, for, as I emphasized during the thirty-fourth OAU summit, “the issue of security and peace in Africa is primarily of concern to Africans. No mechanism has any chance of succeeding effectively over time if it is imposed from outside.” Of course, external solidarity, if it is sincere, will always be welcome, given that in such a complex and changing field concerted and resolute action can only be