A senior Kenyan official decried here Monday that intended exploitation of ethnicity and unequal distribution of resources occasioned by drought, famine and political mischief has continued to block the speedy attainment of peace in Africa.

Kenya's Foreign Minister, Raphael Tuju said that the re- introduction of Civil Society in pursuit of a conflict prevention, resolution and post-conflict peace-building agenda boded well for the region.

Tuju who was speaking during the opening of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) meeting in Nairobi also emphasized the important rule the civil society played of conflict prevention was important.

"I note that the Nairobi Peace Initiative-Africa has been active in many parts of Africa in mediation and dialogue facilitation, community reconciliation, training and capacity building on issues of peace and conflict in Africa," the minister said.

In line with GPPAC, Tuju believes that if they had invested the resources wasted in wars on conflict prevention, the region would have been a more peaceful and prosperous place.

His orientation, he said, was to look for opportunities of an economic nature guided by political freedoms that can help evolve into a conflict free world.

"Technology has collapsed, distance and globalization has irrevocably altered the form and content of our diplomacy. We seek economic partners that can help us uplift the standards of living of our people," he said.

"I want Kenya's diplomacy to be a national effort, robust, well coordinated including everyone. I believe that assertive multilateralism, using all our assets in the United Nations to achieve economic benefit for our people is the way to go," he said.

Source: Xinhua