From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
Episcopalians continue to aid Sierra Leone
From
ENS.parti@ecunet.org (ENS)
Date
17 Dec 1999 10:20:48
For more information contact:
Episcopal News Service
Kathryn McCormick
kmccormick@dfms.org
212/922-5383
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens
99-186
As horrific conflict continues, Sierra Leone struggles toward
peace
by Kathryn McCormick
(ENS) As the war-ravaged country of Sierra Leone struggles
toward establishing a permanent peace, one thing shines through,
said Richard Parkins after a November visit there, and that is a
remarkable lack of bitterness among the war's many victims, who
seem hungry more for reconciliation than vengeance.
Recalling his visit to a camp for some of the hundreds of
thousands of victims whose limbs had been amputated by marauding
rebels during the nine-year conflict, Parkins said, "One resident
told me he would be satisfied if the rebels 'would just say they
are sorry.'"
Leaders are trying to work out the details of a fragile
peace accord signed last July by government and the heads of two
factions of rebels. The accord was the culmination of process
initiated and supported by the country's religious groups, both
Christian and Muslim. Parkins noted that the role that churches
have played before, during and after the conflict, has been huge.
"The churches have earned the respect of the people here,"
he said. "They stayed with people during the conflict, church
workers risked their lives, and eventually negotiated with the
rebels. Many people told me that the churches have been the glue
of the society here."
Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration Ministries, the
Episcopal Church's main aid program to refugees from throughout
the world, was the only American invited to be part of a 13-
member ecumenical team organized by the All Africa Conference of
Churches and the World Council of Churches that spent several
days in Sierra Leone last November. The team was there to observe
the first general assembly of the country's fledgling Council of
Churches.
Day of prayer for children
The meeting, attended by representatives of 18 Protestant
denominations, began with greetings from a Roman Catholic bishop
and an imam representing the Muslim community, Parkins said.
Their remarks highlighted the "high degree of cooperation and
tolerance among all the religious groups," he added.
[At the recommendation of the ecumenical team the All Africa
Conference of Churches later called for a Day of Prayer for the
children of Sierra Leone, to be marked on December 25 as churches
celebrate the birth of Jesus.
The general secretary of the conference, the Rev. Canon Clement
Janda, said that in their prayers people should remember
the thousands of children who have remained unaccounted for
following their abduction by rebel forces.
"Among the suffering children are some 300,000 whose tender
limbs were amputated by rebels," he said. Many of their surviving
parents are not only enduring mental anguish but are among the
two million internally displaced persons who are dealing with
many added hardships, he noted.]
After the meeting, the WCC group visited a camp that housed
amputees, victims of one of the most common kinds of terror
carried out by the rebels.
Parkins said residents at the camp sang a song, "Let Us
Forgive." Not only the amputees, but even those who were not
profoundly affected by the violence seemed willing to publicly
say, "Let's move on."
With their advocacy of the peace process, which calls for
bringing former rebel leaders into some positions of authority in
the government and for allowing the immediate return of former
rebels into the population, Parkins acknowledged that the
churches "have taken a risk by saying that they have not
forgotten the tragedy of the past, but that now is the time for
healing and stability."
The bold move has left some questions as yet unresolved, he
said. For example, what does it say to the world when people who
have committed atrocities are then allowed to participate in the
government of a country? How can the people who have committed
heinous crimes be reintegrated into the society they have hurt so
much?
The process is moving slowly, Parkins said. At the time of
his visit, the country was awaiting the arrival of a United
Nations force to help restore order under a provision of the
peace accord.
Obviously, many questions must be answered, but if the peace
process is to have a chance at succeeding, he said, "we, as
partner churches, need to be much more emphatic about supporting
the religious community in Sierra Leone. There are probably not
many countries where churches are carrying this kind of burden.
Prayers mean much to them."
--Kathryn McCormick is associate director of News and Information
for the Episcopal Church.
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