Masire’s guest of honour at the launch on November 5 of his foundation was former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano. The Foundation is made up of several Masire family members.
In an interview with AFP, Masire said he felt Africa’s future is bright. “We are dealing with positive changes,” Masire said, who has served as a mediator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Lesotho and Swaziland since standing down in 1998.
Masire, however, was reluctant to be drawn on the Zimbabwean crisis only to say that “Zimbabwe faced worse situations and found solutions before, so if helped, if given a chance, Zimbabwe could find a way.”
Masire apparently was also tight lipped about the SADC mediation efforts led by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. “If it is happening behind the scenes, it’s not for the media to know,” he said.
Masire’s view of Africa’s progress was much more forthcoming. He said: “The economies are better, elections are taking place in many African states, presidents are willing to leave offices, and there are no coups these days.”
Chissano won widespread praise for not only overseeing the southeast African nation’s reconstructuion but also standing down voluntarily and was awarded last month a new five million dollar Mo Ibrahim prize for leadership.
Chissano is reported to have said that the continuing unrest in DRC, Sudan and Uganda were “remnants of conflicts from long time ago. They are not new conflicts. Uganda used to have many movements, now there are two or three remaining, the main one being the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), the one I’m working with right now,” said Chissano, who last year was appointed a UN envoy to the conflict in northern Uganda.
 Chissano explained that he and Masire formed the Foundation in an attempt to “help sitting heads of states, as well as helping in peace facilitations.”
Masire added that his foundation aimed to raise money to ensure peace efforts do not unravel due to lack of funding.
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