Residents of Southeastern Liberia will today begin to, via dialogue forums, know the content of the Farmington River Declaration recently signed by presidential candidates and political parties in Liberia.
The Southeastern dialogue will kick off in Toe’s Town, Grand Gedeh County, and subsequently make its way to Kanwekan, River Gee County, and Pleebo, Maryland County. The Center for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding (CECPAP) will guard the dialogue.
It can be recalled, on April 4, 2023, presidential candidates and leaders of political parties met at the Farmington Hotel in Unification Town, Margibi County, to commit themselves to a non-violent election, through the signing of a declaration, known as the Farmington River Declaration.
The community dialogue forum is being organized and facilitated by CECPAP, with funding provided by the UN Peacebuilding Fund. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is supervising the implementation of the project.
The successful conduct of the Southeastern Dialogue Forum will bring to end an on-going eight-part series community dialogue that has been taking place in several counties for the past two weeks. Already, residents of Grand Cape Mount, Gbarpolu, Lofa, Bong, and Nimba counties have met and discussed the Declaration.
According to a release from CECPAP, the dialogue forum is being held under the theme: Promoting Peaceful Electoral Environment and Community Security in Liberia. It is geared towards increasing Liberians’ knowledge and awareness level on the Farmington River Declaration by political parties and presidential candidates.
The Southeastern Dialogue Forum seeks to engage county authorities, community leaderships, local dwellers, and other stakeholders on their civic responsibility to preventing and managing violence during this electoral period. Liberians, as part of their roles and civic responsibilities, have the moral obligation to create and promote a peaceful electoral environment before, during, and after elections.
The dialogue forum will create awareness on the maintenance of peace, anti-hate speech, disinformation, misinformation, and vices that fuel conflict and that constitute violation of the 2023 Farmington Declaration.
It is expected that at the end of the community dialogue forum, community leaders and stakeholders in the eight counties are sensitized about commitments contained in the Farmington Declaration, and can hold political parties and presidential candidates to account for their misdeeds. The participants will also have the skill and ability to prevent violence and resolve issues surrounding electoral violence.
