Amasaman (GAR), March 21 GNA - Ms Georgette Francois, Executive Director of West African Dispute Resolution Centre (WADREC), on Monday underscored the need for queenmothers to be empowered with mediating skills to enable them to resolve disputes and conflicts in their communities.

She said because the queenmothers served unique and important roles within the community it was vital that to build their capacities to enable them to determine cases that came before them. Ms Francois was speaking at the opening of a three-day workshop on Gender, Conflict Management and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) at Amasaman, near Accra.

The workshop, which was sponsored by Action Aid, attracted queenmothers, chiefs and opinion leaders in the GaDangme traditional area.

It was aimed at training the queenmothers in fundamental conflict management and ADR skills to effectively arbitrate disputes in their areas.

The 25 participants would also receive additional training in "Gender and Conflict resolution" from a gender specialists. Ms Francois said the main objective of WADREC was to promote the mainstreaming of women in conflict resolution and peace building process in the West Africa sub-region.

She said the seminar also focused on the inequalities that emanated from conflicts and their impact on women and children. She called for the early settlement of legal, business, traditional and community disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to enhance the delivery of justice and promotion peaceful environment for development.

Mr Samuel Aryeetey Attoh, Member of Parliament for Ga West, urged the queenmothers to take the programme seriously and go back to their communities and interact with the people. He charged them to use the knowledge they would acquire in resolving some of the numerous chieftaincy, family and land disputes within the region.

Nii Tetteh Tsuru II, Otuopai Matse who chaired the occasion, appealed to Action Aid to support the queenmothers financially to carry out educational programmes in their communities. He also called for the strengthening of relations between the traditional rulers and government for the peaceful development of the country. 21 March 05