wfn.org | AFSC: Africa Peace Tour

[RByler@afsc.org]

For Immediate Release
March 12, 1997
Contact:  J.Ron Byler (215/241-7060)
or Aishah Shahidah Simmons (215/241-7056)

African Experts Will Speak Throughout New England 
with Vision for Africa in the 21st Century

PHILADELPHIA - A dozen activists from Africa will speak on more than 30
college and university campuses throughout New England, April 7-11, 1997, to
share their vision of Africa in the 21st century and to encourage Americans
to support the efforts of African countries to determine their own futures.
The annual Africa Peace Tour is sponsored by the American Friends Service
Committee (AFSC), an international Quaker peace and social justice agency.
	"Like many in the United States, Africans are debating how to move into the
new millennium," said Jerry Herman, national coordinator of AFSC's Africa
Peace Education Program.  He said that many African concerns - stopping the
flow of arms in their communities, stemming the outflow of natural and human
resources, preventing violence, and seeking an economic livelihood for all
people - parallel those in the United States.  "We must support African
peoples' right to select their own governments, to demand responsible
governance and to build societies free from outside economic and military
pressures," he said.
	Tour participants from varied academic and activist backgrounds include
Africans from Zaire, Burundi, Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Western
Sahara, Sudan, Mauritania, Mozambique, Mali and South Africa.  They will
discuss a wide range of issues critical to the future of the African
continent, including the ways in which warfare and militarism are major
obstacles to combating hunger and poverty in Africa,  the devastating
effects of mismanaged foreign aid and exploitive trade policies, and the
importance of strengthening U.S./African networks and African civil society.
	The Africa Peace Tour will be hosted by colleges and universities in
Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine,
including Brandeis and Tufts in the Boston area, Bryant and Brown in Rhode
Island, the University of Vermont in Burlington, and Wesleyan and Yale
universities in Connecticut.
Herman said that tour speakers will encourage students and others in the
United States to challenge their policy makers to know Africa and the issues
that affect it.  "We want peace," said Herman, "but when children are dying,
as they are throughout Africa, it's hard to talk about peace without working
for justice in our country's relationships with the African continent." 
	"Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan, fair elections in Liberia, the continuing
war in the Great Lakes region, the role of women in African society, abuses
against the Ogoni people by the military dictatorship in Nigeria, and the
impact of the Truth Commission in South Africa are human rights issues we
all should care about," said Herman.
        Africans participating on the Africa Peace Tour include Jacque
Bacamurwanko, former ambassador to the United States from Burundi; Rebecca
Wakuteka, a Zairian musician well-known in her country; Mouny Berrah, an
Algerian journalist; and Bakary Tandia, exiled from Mauritania, and now
working with the Mauritanian Human Rights Committee in New York.
	For more information about the Africa Peace Tour, including a complete list
of speakers and speaking dates, or to arrange media interviews with the
African participants, please contact J.Ron Byler, AFSC director of media
relations, at 215/241-7060.
-- 30 --

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization which
includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace
and humanitarian service.  Its work is based on the Quaker belief in the
worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence
and injustice.
J.Ron Byler
Director of Media Relations
American Friends Service Committee
PH: 215/241-7060
FAX: 215/241-7275
E-MAIL: RByler@afsc.org
http://www.afsc.org