Ajami in the Senegambia

by Fallou Ngom

Thierno Alpha Mouhammadou Baldé's Fula - Fulakunda Ajami Video

Call for peace and nonviolence in Africa

Written by: Thierno Alpha Mouhammadou Baldé
Date written: 2006

In this gallery, Cerno Muhammadu Balde discusses the need for peace, tolerance and rejecting violence in Africa. He calls for unity, solidarity and forgiveness and the rejection of the use of violence to resolve conflicts in Africa.

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Page 1: Introduction: The causes of conflicts in Africa

First of all, I am grateful to God and His prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Wemust thank God who shows us that the entire humankind comes from the same father and mother (from one family). No human being is superior to another before God.

Hardships and wars have continued to destroy our countries since the times of our ancestors. Why is there no peace in most of Africa? The scholars teach us that pride and ignorance are the root causes of conflicts. What is ignorance? To be ignorant is to use weapons to start a war. The white colonizers have caused us numerous troubles. That is the truth. We must do our best to bring peace back into our homes. This is what will ensure our progress.

Page 2: Call to put down weapons

Nowadays, the powerful people are those with guns. And they are the ones who are
always right.

Well-being has disappeared. Hardship has taken root, bringing with it poverty. For unity and understanding to come back to Africa, weapons need to be put down. Help us put down weapons (repeated). Weapons do not bring us progress and they engender nothing but misery. Dear fellow Africans, let us be united (repeated) to bring back light, peace, and well-being at home. This way we could make some progress. It is unity(repeated), work, development, and people's courage that bring progress in a country. Dear fellow Senegalese countrymen, let us seek knowledge to be used for the nation so that peace remains with us, in our country, and in other countries.

Page 3: Let us be united like a broom with its numerous small sticks

Tolerance, unity, and peace are the strength of a nation. Let us help one another. Without solidarity, we will not be able to develop our country. We need to be united because it is in unity that we will find security. If we are united like a broom with its multiple small sticks, we will be able to clean (develop) the country easily. We will be able to clean (develop) numerous homes. May God protect us from hardships and catastrophes, which will not be taken away unless we are united. We must learn to forgive when someone hurts us. We must learn to forgive everyone, both in our country and anywhere else in the world. We must regard all humankind as our own family. We must also behave as if we have forgiven the entire humankind. If everyone forgives his/her fellow human being, there will be nothing in this world but peace.

Page 4: Conclusion

We must learn to forgive our neighbors. If you hold a position of power, you must be compassionate toward those under your authority. We must create an environment of peace and forgiveness in the country. Only peace and forgiveness can put out the fires(difficulties/conflicts) in the country. Tolerance chases away all evil. It is the ability to bear the pain required to take away harmful things from a country. I am grateful to God. May God bestow his mercy to everyone, to those who are close or far, to those who live in this country or elsewhere, and to all those in this world and in the afterlife.