UN General Assembly
2002

Despite the declaration by the 1999 Algiers Summit of the OAU to make the year 2000 the year to end conflicts and to start a new momentum for peace in Africa, conflicts have continued to take a heavy toll on African peoples in many countries of the continent. This is indeed disappointing. I come from the Horn of Africa, a subregion where conflicts and wars have been a way of life for many decades. The Horn of Africa is also a place that has seen many misfortunes. Recurring conflicts over past decades have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, displaced a staggering number of people and forced millions out of their countries to live as refugees in foreign lands. The internal conflict in the Sudan is now the longest running one in Africa. Under the framework of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a subregional entity, the State of Eritrea, together with the other member countries, is doing its best to bring about a resolution to this conflict. We have come a long way in bringing the conflicting