wfn.org | Anglican Diocese of Cape Town calls for prohibition on export of

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

South African armaments

Media release by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, the
Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, Cape Town, Saturday 22 November 1997.

Issued by Quo Vadis Communications
on behalf of the Archbishop of Cape Town.
Media contact: Theo Coggin 082-9000-168

For immediate release

___________________________________________________

The Anglican Church of the Diocese of Cape Town has called for an
immediate and total prohibition on exports of South African armaments
and on the services of mercenaries.

A motion passed today at the Diocese’s Synod in Cape Town also called on
the government to disband parastatal armaments companies such as Armscor
and Denel.

The resolution, which was unanimously adopted, asked for the curtailment
of weapons within South Africa, and the restriction of both legal and
illegal private ownership of weapons.

In a lengthy resolution on demilitarisation and the arms trade,
President Nelson Mandela was rapped on the knuckles for his refusal to
sign the Nobel Peace Laureates’ International Code of Conduct on Arms
Transfers. A number of speakers said a strong message needed to go to
the government on the arms trade and demilitarisation.

During the debate, Father Francis Cull, director of the Institute for
Christian Spirituality for the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, noted
that up until the outbreak of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, there
have been 227 wars in the world during the 20th century, and that
107,8-million people had been killed in these wars. He added that it was
contrary to the will of God that nations pile up arms to be used against
one another.

Another speaker, Father Trevor Pearce, rector of St Martin’s Parish,
Bergvliet, told how he visited Rwanda last year and saw a church in
which 600 Hutus and Tutsis had been killed over a period of three days –
with arms manufactured in South Africa.

In an interview after the resolution was passed, the Archbishop of Cape
Town, the Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, said that in representations
he had made to government during the course of the year, he had
emphasised the importance of converting South Africa’s ability to
manufacture military weapons to peaceful purposes. In this way,
resources, both human and material, could continue to be utilised to
improve the quality of life for all.

The Synod also called for a drastic reduction of the number of personnel
in the SANDF and for a reliance on a well-trained, effective and
respected civilian police service to protect law and order and South
Africa’s national sovereignty.

The government was urged to promote human rights throughout the world,
thus reflecting its commitment and dedication to a culture of human
rights and democracy within South Africa.

Ends statement