President Bio speaking at the Geneva Peace Forum.Sierra Leone’s President Dr Julius Maada Bio delivered a powerful keynote address at the first Geneva Peace Forum on Monday, 12 October 2026, urging world leaders to shift international priorities from funding the aftermath of armed conflict to preventing wars before they start.
President Bio spoke to an audience at the International Conference Centre Geneva (ICCG) on the Forum’s theme, “Choose Peace”, and proposed a concrete “Geneva Commitment to Prevention” to make early action measurable and accountable in international cooperation.
President Bio questioned why the international system mobilised enormous resources when violence broke out but invested far less in early efforts to prevent conflict. “We are good at dealing with the consequences of war. We must be equally determined to prevent its causes,” he said, adding that the barrier to prevention is not just money, but also political will and prioritisation.
He suggested two practical steps the international community could take to give prevention more weight: a progressive increase in the share of international assistance devoted to conflict prevention, and publishing an annual report on early warnings received and actions taken.
He said that the number of declarations issued should not judge the Forum, but the number of conflicts averted and lives saved. President Bio pointed to Sierra Leone’s own bitter history and recovery to underscore the costs of failure.
He remembered a wooden chair with a broken leg at Geneva’s Place des Nations, a memorial to landmine victims. It too represented the Sierra Leoneans who lost limbs, but rebuilt their lives, despite the scars of conflict still fresh. “War does not end when the guns fall silent,” he said. “Its legacy continues to be felt by injured survivors, shattered communities and children who pay the price for decisions they never made.”
Bio’s appeal lay in his long and varied background: he served as a soldier with the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Liberia, as a military Head of State who oversaw the transition to civilian rule in Sierra Leone in 1996, and as a democratically elected president.
He cited the country’s declaration in January 2002, “Di wor don don” (the war is over), but stressed that ending active hostilities is only the beginning of a long recovery process. He said: “Sierra Leone has learned that reconciliation, accountability and national recovery are inextricably linked.”
“We learned that reconciliation without justice is brittle and justice without reconciliation is incomplete. “A nation needs both,” Bio said, referring to Sierra Leone’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which helped lay the foundation for a lasting peace. He also noted his country’s transition from receiving peacekeeping assistance to providing troops to international missions and serving on the United Nations Security Council in 2024 and 2025.
President Bio also expressed concern about current global fault lines from conflicts in Sudan, the Sahel, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Middle East and Ukraine. He said the international community often only reacts after violence has broken out, despite early warning signs such as political exclusion, inequality, eroding trust and misinformation. Stronger early warning systems and the political will to act on them are key to preventing disputes from escalating into violence, he said.
Bio emphasised that prevention must be comprehensive. This is not a one-off security effort, but a long-term investment in the building blocks of peaceful societies: quality education, job opportunities, fair courts, credible elections and meaningful opportunities for young people. He also highlighted new sources of instability, such as climate-related disasters that exacerbate poverty and exclusion, misinformation and abuse of artificial intelligence, and cyberattacks that threaten to undermine public trust and vital services. He called for fair climate financing and more inclusive global technology governance.
“Africa comes to Geneva not only to look for answers to these challenges.” “Africa has something to offer them,” he said, drawing on his experience as Chair of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States.
He said lasting peace must be regionally owned, internationally supported and based on mutual respect, and he called for continued dialogue in West Africa, including with Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, to stress shared histories, linked markets and common futures.
President Bio laid out three practical imperatives for policymakers and practitioners to turn commitments into action. These are: act sooner, talk longer and involve more people. “Diplomacy and preventive action must begin long before tensions are evident; engagement must continue through the long, hard processes of reconciliation and recovery; and the voices of women, youth, and marginalised groups must be at the centre of prevention strategies.”
He ended with a direct appeal to leaders to choose peace even when it’s hard and takes courage. “For the greatest victory of peace is not the war we cease. ‘It is the war we shall never allow to start,’ he said.
The Geneva Peace Forum brought together international and regional actors to further discuss conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and practical peacekeeping measures. In his address, President Bio called for moving beyond declarative politics toward measurable commitments, reliable early-warning mechanisms, and shared responsibility to prevent future conflicts.
