Mancham gears up for ‘challenging’ agenda abroad |21 August 2013

Seychelles founding President James R. Mancham will be leaving Seychelles again before the end of the month at the start of what he has described as "a series of important international engagements”.

Mr Mancham made the announcement yesterday following his return to Seychelles on Monday from a cataract operation in Geneva, Switzerland, and a short family holiday in Majorca, Spain.

The former President will first take part as a selected panelist in the Earth Dialogue Session on "Building a Peaceful and Sustainable World" at the invitation of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev at Le Palais des Nations in Geneva on September 3 - where the renown Russian leader is hosting the 20th anniversary of the Green Cross International (GCI) which he founded in 1993 after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

The GCI is an independent non-profit organisation working to address the inter-connected challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation through a combination of advocacies and on-the-ground projects. The GCI is headquartered in Geneva and present in over 30 countries.

Following the GCI conference in Geneva, Mr Mancham will be among several distinguished guests attending the 17th Annual Forum 2000 Conference in Prague which was the birth-child of the late Czech leader Vaclav Havel of the Velvet Revolution fame who devoted his life to fighting for freedom and human dignity.

The theme of this year's conference is "Societies in Transition" and the dignitaries expected to attend include His Holiness Dalai Lama, the American singer and activist Joan Baez, the former South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Frederik Willem de Klerk, the Burmese dissident and today's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the Australian diplomat and former Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans.

While in the Czech Republic, Mr Mancham will attend as a special guest this year's edition of "Water, Sea, Oceans Festival" devoted to films on all forms of life and the conservation of rivers, lakes, seas and oceans which was founded more than 10 years ago by Steve Lichtag - the director of the 3D film on Aldabra. This festival provides the only platform for "Aquatic Films" in the Czech Republic and will take place in the historical town of Hluboka. Mr Mancham will have further discussions about the "Bring Aldabra to Mahé" project which he is jointly spearheading with Ambassador Maurice Loustau-Lalanne of the Seychelles Islands Foundation.

From Prague, Mr Mancham will fly to the USA to take part in the Ocean Exchange 2013 Conference which is to take place in Savannah, Georgia. The conference is based on the notion that the ocean connects all countries, drives all eco-systems and is the world's biggest economic force. The objective of Ocean Exchange is to find solutions to problems facing the oceans and coastal regions. Mr Mancham is a member of the Board of Governors of the Ocean Exchange.

While in the USA, Mr Mancham has been invited by the Washington D.C-based Foundation for Democracy in Africa to attend the 15th Annual AfriCando Trade and Investment Symposium, which the Foundation is hosting in Miami, USA from October 2-4. It is to be recalled that Mr Mancham won the Foundation Millennium Meritorious Award in May 2000 for "his promotion of peace, reconciliation and prosperity in Africa."

From Miami, USA, Mr Mancham is expected to fly to Washington D.C. to have discussions with the Chairperson of the Global Peace Foundation about the Global Peace Leadership Conference which the Foundation is organising in Abuja, Nigeria this year. While in Washington D.C., Mr Mancham will once again explore the status of the anticipated U.S. diplomatic presence in Port Victoria against a background of his longstanding campaign for the U.S. to have a resident ambassador in Seychelles as during the time of the Cold War.

From USA, the former President will fly to Belgrade, Serbia to attend the 9th International Conference on Peace, Reconciliation and Human Tolerance in the Balkans before returning to Seychelles.
Mr Mancham has been an active member of the Academic Council of the European Center for Peace and Development in the Balkans for over 10 years - always determined to dry up the "water of hate" swimming between Serbia and Kosovo.

In a statement issued yesterday morning, Mr Mancham said that he attaches great importance to his participation in these international conferences not only at a personal level but more as a Seychellois.

"As our maritime nation recognises the need to promote its blue economy and the government's declaration of its desire to seek for Seychelles a seat within the Security Council of the United Nations, it is important for us to demonstrate that our racially integrated society has a lot to teach the rest of the world at this time of globalisation. We must, above all, demonstrate that while we come from a physically small nation we are indeed not small-minded people," Mr Mancham stated.

Finally, Mr Mancham said that he hopes to have discussions with President James Michel, Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Paul Adam and other relevant ministers and officials before he leaves Mahé at the start of his challenging agenda.

Last but not least, he said he was highly grateful to Mrs Irene Reynolds-Schier of the Sapelo Foundation for agreeing to sponsor the cost of his travels to the USA.