HARARE, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) on Friday launched its outreach in the capital Harare as it prepares to roll out its national healing and reconciliation programs in the country.
The launch in Harare follows events in five other provinces as the commission moves to cover all the country's 10 provinces before it embarks on countrywide public consultations, deputy chairperson Lilian Chigwedere told Xinhua in Harare.
She said the outreach was aimed at sensitizing and mobilizing members of the public to participate in the commission's national healing and reconciliation programs.
"At the end of the day we want to have a broad-based and inclusive national healing and reconciliation process in the country," she said.
Speaking at the launch, NPRC Chairperson Selo Masole Nare said the lunch marks the beginning of the commissions' work in Harare Metropolitan Province which has a population of approximately 5 million people and has witnessed some of the most violent demonstrations in the recent past.
The NPRC is one of the independent commissions established with a mandate to ensure post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation.
It is also tasked with developing and implementing programs to promote national healing, unity and cohesion in the country and the peaceful resolution of disputes.
"Its establishment (NPRC) was an acknowledgement by the nation that the country has gone through a conflicted past dating back to pre-colonial times without healing the wounds of the nation," Nare said.
He said the setting up of the Commission was also an attempt to address the past conflicts to bring about holistic national healing and true reconciliation that facilitates social cohesion.
Minister of State for Harare Province Oliver Chidawu, in a speech read on his behalf, said national healing and reconciliation will have far reaching implications in the country's socio-economic development objectives.
UN Zimbabwe peace advisor Jean-Paul Kimbulu Kandolo also gave a solidarity message and said the UN was supportive of peace building and reconciliation efforts in Zimbabwe.
"Peace building and reconciliation are at the core of the United Nations and this is why we commend the work of the NPRC in Zimbabwe," Kandolo said.
