Alioune Guèye
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The Chairman of the network of African UN young leaders (ROJALNU), Malian Alioune Guèye, on Monday called for a better focus on youth employment in Africa’s development policies and programmes.
“Africa must reserve better fate for its youth. It must give young people the opportunity to affirm themselves,” he said.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Pan-African summit of UN young leaders, Mr. Guèye warned against the dangers of endemic unemployment.
“If young men remain jobless, without good future, without hope, they become a threat to the stability and future of the continent,” he said.
“Youth employment is economically and humanly unacceptable, he added, saying the Dakar meeting will be the opportunity to assess what was done in terms of youth employment since the creation of ROJALNU in 2004.
The Dakar summit, due for five days, brings together some 500 young men from 54 African countries.
Organizers say that it is the opportunity for young men to share “innovative ideas” on the big stakes of sustainable human development facing Africa.
It is also aimed at pleading the course for young men to be placed at the heart of the UN post-2015 development programme, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The summit is due to produce proposals for youth employment and the acquisition of capacities in terms of youth entrepreneurship within the framework of MDGs and the conceptual framework of the post-2015 development programme.
Photo: UN
