French, Germans and Ugandans to celebrate treaty of peace

PIC: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) and French President Emmanuel Macron pose at the Elysee

DIPLOMACY

KAMPALA - To  commemorate the  55th anniversary  of the signing  of  the  Élysée  Treaty,  the Ambassador of France to Uganda Stéphanie Rivoal and Dr Albrecht Conze, the Ambassador of Germany to  Uganda, will  host  a peace  and  reconciliation  award  ceremony on Monday.

A statement from the French embassy said the treaty was historic and  to  encourage  reconciliation and fruitful co-operation in Uganda, their excellences  Rivoal and Conze will host  the  award  ceremony  and  a reception at the at residence of the German Ambassador in Kololo.

Alfred Onek, a press official at the French Embassy said this year's  award  will  be  presented  to  six members  of  the Legal  Aid  office  in  Moroto. The office was  established  by  the  Uganda  Law  Society  to provide  legal  assistance to the  people  of Karamoja.

The signing of the Élysée Treaty by President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer On January  22, 1963 sealed the reconciliation between France and Germany for the benefit of a long and lasting era of peace and friendship between the two countries..

The Élysée Treaty was a treaty of friendship at the Élysée Palace in Paris. With the signing of this treaty, Germany and France established a new foundation for relations that ended centuries of rivalry between them.

The treaty called for regular consultations between France and West Germany on all important questions concerning defence, education and youth issues.

It also requires regular summits between high-level officials, which implies that the Heads of State and Government have to meet at least twice a year and the ministers of foreign affairs every three months, to ensure close collaboration between the two states.


The first meeting between the two heads of state took place at the private home of General de Gaulle at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises in September 1958. Since then, French and German heads of state have kept up the strong relationship, often considered as the engine of the European integration