URI-Africa Signs Agreement with Soto Koto Media Entertainment, Ltd

30 August 2015

Dear Colleagues

Greetings of peace and blessing from URI-Africa.

Taking into consideration on the important role of arts as a critical mobilizer of transformation and the largest medium of communication to channel a message of peaceful co-existences, harmony, building national cohesion, unity and reconciliation, URI-Africa signed an agreement with Soto Koto Media Entertainment, Ltd on October 2, 2015 at the URI Africa office.

The objectives of the agreement:

  1. To collaborate and maintain a close working partnership to organize every year the AFRICA MUSIC FESTIVAL in Africa.
  2. To promote a culture of peace, healing, unity, reconciliation, inter-religious and inter-cultural harmony in Africa through the Arts.
  3. To promote the African Union’s purpose and popularize the Agenda 2063 through Arts.
  4. To support the African Union’s vision of “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.”
  5. To rekindlethe passion for Pan-Africanism, a sense of unity, self-reliance, integration and solidarity among the young generation of Africans.
  6. To promote the guiding principle of ethics – the Golden Rule, which says, “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” in Africa through art.
  7. To promote the culture, art and music of Africa in the world.
  8. To organize in partnership the celebration of the International Day of Peace (September 21), Africa Day (May 25th), World Environment Day (June 5th) and Golden Rule Day (April 5th) through arts.
  9. To encourage musicians in Africa to be Ambassadors of Peace
  10. To use the arts and intercultural learning in order to inspire a culture of peace and hope, and to educate for non-violent alternatives.
  11. To mobilize the arts as educational forces in Africa to address the issue of human trafficking, immigration, child soldiers, early marriage, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, social justices, hate speech, and women’s empowerment.
  12. To build sustainable partnerships between the African continent and the African Diaspora through art and music, with collaboration with governments and peoples of different regions of the world in which the Diaspora populations are located.

Africa Music Festival, the premier event in Pan African Music held for over 20 years in Europe, Asia and America, is now making its home in Africa. The first Africa Music Festival is endorsed and hosted by the government of the Republic of Kenya; the event will take place on the 4th and 5th of December 2015 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi. The event consists of a day-long concert featuring major stars of African music, preceded by a Symposium on Music and Creative Economy along with a Gala Reception.  Starting from this year, ever year the Africa Music Festival will be organizing in a different part of Africa with the aim of promoting a culture of peace and harmony.

May Peace Prevail on Earth

In peace and gratitude

Mussie Hailu

group photo