ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged African leaders to bring unity of purpose to intractable crises across the continent.
He told the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Monday that such a strategy is needed to quell conflicts "that bleed like open wounds on the face of the continent," namely Somalia and Ivory Coast.
Ban said the U.N.-AU partnership helped to resolve the Democratic Republic of the Congo crisis where last November's elections, the first in more than 40 years and the largest such support operation in U.N. history, were "a remarkable peacekeeping achievement."
He said, "Liberia, too, shines as an example of what can be achieved through our collective will for peace and security in Africa."
The new secretary-general drew on his own experiences as a child growing up in war-torn Korea in the 1950s to deliver a message of hope to Africa.
"I have seen the hardship and hunger, the degradation and disease, that come with prolonged warfare," he said. "Elderly women scavenging for scraps, toddlers weak from malnutrition and unsafe drinking water, buildings dilapidated, corn fields rotting, an infrastructure on its knees.
"This I witnessed as a young boy, and the images haunt me to this day. But I also witnessed how, through unity of purpose, my country was able to transform itself from a traumatized nation with a non-existent economy, into a vibrant, productive society and a regional economic power," he added. "Let us bring the same unity of purpose to bear on development in Africa."
