The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) has indicated interest to partner with Omdusman of Republic of Burundi on peace building and conflict prevention in Africa.
The Director General of the Institute, Dr Bakut Bakut made this known when he received the Republic of Burundi’s Ombudsman (the 6th man in the government of Burundi) His Excellency, Dr Edward Nduwimana.
In the Republic of Burundi, Ombudsman is the office responsible for peacebuilding, conflict resolution and prevention as well as mediation.
Dr Bakut, explained that IPCR is a research institute with the mandate of promoting Peace, conflict prevention management and resolution in Nigeria and Africa.
He noted that the IPCR in Nigeria and Ombudsman in Burundi share similar objectives, hence the need to join forces to work towards peace building and conflict prevention in Africa.
Dr Bakut said: “We have a lot in common; we are into reconciliation, peace building, dialogue and negotiations, all that you need to do as an ombudsman, but we are not called Ombudsman.”
Bakut further noted that both agencies have mandate that cover Africa not only their particular country, recalling that most of the negotiations process in resolving some of the crises in Africa held in Nigeria.
“The engagement would not only cover Nigeria and Burundi but the whole of Africa, “Dr. Bakut said.
Earlier, Dr Nduwimana commended the Federal Government of Nigeria for establishing the institute responsible for Peace building in the Country.
He said: “I congratulate you for being Chief Executive of this institute, we should have such institutes to build our capacity in Africa, we should have a unique way of resolving African’s problem in Africa.”
He reiterated that Republic of Burundi is willing to formalize partnership with Nigeria for the promoting of dialogue and conflict prevention in Africa.
