Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – On May 11 in Ouagadougou, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), launched a five-year project:  Mitigating Electoral Violence through National Early Warning Systems (NEWS).  As part of the U.S. Government’s efforts to support the 2015 elections in Burkina Faso, NEWS will collect and analyze information on possible triggers of electoral violence, and develop recommendations for peace building activities to help prevent or contain the outbreak of electoral violence.

“While many factors contribute to political instability and national conflict, research has shown that large-scale violence and instability have frequently been sparked by elections,” stated Tulinabo Mushingi, the U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso.  “It is our firm belief that strengthening early warning and response around this historic election in Burkina Faso, and other key elections in the region, will help to increase regional stability and reduce the potential for future conflict.”

USAID is supporting broader participation in the democratic process by providing U.S. $2.5 million over a five-year period to enable WANEP’s extensive network of grassroots civil society organizations to identify potential triggers of violence in upcoming elections in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Niger and Sierra Leone.  WANEP will assist the organizations by developing and monitoring a set of customized indicators and analyzing the resulting data. Their recommendations  for conflict prevention activities such as mediation, peace messaging, and community dialogue will be channeled to a wide range of national and regional stakeholders including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for early action.

The Executive Director for WANEP, Mr Chukwuemeka Eze, expressed appreciation for the support provided by the U.S. Government, stating, “It will enable WANEP to work towards a violence-free, credible and transparent election in Burkina Faso.”  He added that “Recent elections in Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana have provided the basis to believe that Africa and its citizens can get its elections right through the right partnership and support.”