A group of Plaisance secondary students entertaining the audience at Monday's ceremony to launch the SIPAI

Mr Mancham addressing the audience at Monday's official launch of SIPAI

An international project to give small island nations the lead in a search for global peace was officially launched on Monday September 22.

The launching of the Small Islands Peace Action Initiative (SIPAI), presided over by former President James Mancham, KBE, was held in the assembly hall of Plaisance Secondary in front of an audience of members of the local NGO community, Ministry of Education staff and teachers and pupils of the school.

According to the project coordinator, Mr Mathew Servina of the Centre For Rights and Development (CEFRAD), SIPAI is intended to bring small island states together to assist them in the pursuit of peace at a community, national and international level, with the assistance of larger nations.

SIPAI, said Mr Servina, would encourage small islands to seek greater self reliance at the same time as connecting to modern technology and global systems, to provide the right environment for their youths to get involved in the process.

At an international level SIPAI is intended to form a network of islands from the Indian Ocean, Caribbean and Pacific and follows on from the smaller scale Small Island Voice Project (SIVP) which ran in 2002.

Endorsed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) the SIVP formed a link between Seychelles, as Indian Ocean representative, St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean and Palau in the Pacific.

Following the success of the SIVP the decision has been taken to extend the project, through the SIPAI, to incorporate more island states across the globe. Mr Servina said that after its international launch the project will cover some five countries in the Caribbean, three in the Indian Ocean and three more in the Pacific, as well as being recognised by UNESCO.

In order to meet the objectives of SIPAI the establishment of conferences, workshops and communication networks between participants and supporting groups is proposed.

After local NGO representatives met on 25 August implementations for SIPAI got under way and the decision was taken to launch the new initiative on 22 September, the day after the UN International Day of Peace.

In his official launching speech former President Mancham said that people today are not very happy with the way the world is and are asking questions about the future.

With the advent of technology such as the internet, Mr Mancham said that the world has shrunk, but human egoism has not and that dialogue is, therefore, a word that needs to be underlined.

Mr Mancham concluded by saluting the people behind the formation of SIPAI.

The international launch of SIPAI will take place at next month's Festival Kreol, under the theme, "Peace is Everybody's Business."

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