AbdulKadir Hamdan at UN Geneva conference focus on Horn of Africa

AbdulKadir Hamdan at UN Geneva conference focus on Horn of Africa.

H.E. Abdulkadir Bakri Hamdan, the representative of the Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the UN in Vienna, the main organizer of the event, concluded by recalling the struggle of his country to gain independence and recognition from the international community, and emphasized how the recent peace agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia marked a new era for Eritrean people and for the peoples of the Horn of Africa.

The second session was moderated by Mr. Tageldin Hamad, vice president of UPF International and director of the UPF Office for UN Relations.

Shedding light on their fields of activity in the region, several experts took the stand: Mr. Shaukat Abdulrazag, director for Africa at the Technical Cooperation Department of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Mr. Abdalla Sharief, the president of the UN Correspondents Association Vienna (UNCAV); Captain Simon Gebre Yohannes Neguse from the Eritrean Nuclear Security program; and Mr. Hassan Eltigani Malik from the Awethu Forum to Promote African Unity in Diversity.

The Austrian entrepreneur Reinhard Trinkl spoke about the project of the Environmental Concepts Exchange Association for the Horn of Africa.

Jacques Marion, secretary general of UPF-Europe, concluded the session with a report on UPF activities in Africa. He mentioned that the third Sunhak Peace Prize had been awarded recently by the UPF co-founder to two African laureates: Dr. Akinwum Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank, and Ms. Waris Dirie, the Somalian top model and UN ambassador who started the campaign to denounce female genital mutilation.

To conclude the event, Mrs. Camilla Habsburg read a letter of appreciation, which will be sent to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed: “The participants of the conference ‘Perspectives for Sustainable Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa,’ which took place on March 20, 2019, in the Vienna International Centre (United Nations), want to express their gratitude for the courage and vision that the political leaders of the Horn of Africa nations are showing in order to make a new start toward peace and mutual prosperity. This serves as an example for the whole African continent and for the world.”