Reuters, 16/06 13:17 CET
By Kieran Guilbert
DAKAR (Thomson Reuters
Foundation) – Power-hungry politicians are the main driver of conflicts
across Africa and leaders are not doing enough to stop the violence,
according to tens of thousands of young Africans polled by the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Up to 86,000 Africans from Cameroon to Central African
Republic and Mali to Nigeria took part in the survey via their mobile
phones. The poll targeted people aged between 15 and 30 for their views
on the continent’s conflicts and crises.
“It is so crucial, and even urgent for the leaders to
heed the voices of the youth, if we are to silence the guns,” said
African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma in a
statement responding to the UNICEF poll findings.
Two in three of those who responded to the multiple
choice questions sent by text message said African heads of state must
do more to end conflicts, while more than half cited politicians
fighting for power as the main cause of unrest, UNICEF found.
Respondents said having a strong economy, having a more
independent foreign policy and investing in education were the best ways
for leaders to stop conflicts, according to the survey published on
Thursday on the annual Day of the African Child.
“The conflict in Central African Republic (CAR)
is rooted in frustration and the mismanagement of public affairs,”
17-year-old Davilla Andjidakpa, a student from CAR’s Ouaka region, told
the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
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Source: euronews.
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