AFRICAN leaders pledged to continue respecting the existing borders inherited at the time of independence. In a declaration adopted at the Organisation of African Unity meeting, they said the respect of this principle had helped in the preservation of the continent’s peace and stability. In the ‘Algiers Declaration’, the leaders reaffirmed that they will to “give priority to peaceful means of settling crises, in accordance with the principles of sovereign equality, non-interference and averting the utilization of threat or force.”