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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