wfn.org | Episcopalians: West African church leaders looking for partners in search for peace

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

March 27, 2003

2003-068

Episcopalians: West African church leaders looking for partners 
in search for peace

by Jan Dragin

(CWS/ENS) Ending a two-week mission to the United States, a 
delegation of West African church leaders has told the United 
Nations and U.S. government that there can be no sustainable 
development for West Africa without an immediate end to 
hostilities and without durable peace.

The March visit of the nine-person delegation of ecumenical and 
grassroots leaders from Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, The 
Gambia, and Ghana was sponsored by the global humanitarian 
agency Church World Service (CWS). They met with UN and U.S. 
government officials, church leaders, non-governmental 
organizations and public audiences, appealing for greater 
international support for the critical needs of West Africa's 
Mano River sub-region--and partners in the search for peace. 

Returning home in the midst of war in Iraq, the group will 
continue efforts focused on cessation of hostilities; advocacy; 
institutional capacity building; implementation of a trauma 
counseling and recovery program; and establishing an Eminent 
Persons process to guide conflict resolution.

The delegation's visit with UN and U.S. officials reinforced the 
premise that the churches in Africa are playing a vital role in 
empowering civil society and promoting peace with justice. "I 
believe your visit will make a difference," said CWS Executive 
Director John McCullough. "We have to continue the journey. We 
have a lot more to do. I can assure you of the commitment of 
this organization to accompany you." 

He argued that "the work we have to do is not only as the church 
but also forging a partnership with governments and others in 
the private sector . . . to be bold and brazen and extend the 
invitation and try together."

One of the shared priorities the delegation is taking back to 
West Africa is the Eminent Persons process, a latter day 
adaptation of the African tradition of bringing conflicts to 
tribal elders and talking the conflict out until it is resolved. 
McCullough said that CWS and its African partners were 
determining the best construct to help put that process in place 
across Africa, and "put money behind it." He assured the 
delegates that CWS would work with the UN and U.S. government 
"to be sure they do their part. We will stay on the case."

Liberia is key to peace 

Delegates and policymakers agreed throughout the group's visit 
that peace in Liberia was central to creating stability for the 
sub-region.  Ongoing conflict in Liberia and a resulting 
continued flow of refugees across borders is stressing 
neighboring countries who are themselves burdened with varying 
levels of unrest, post-conflict rehabilitation, poverty, and 
uprooted peoples. CWS senior advisor Victor Hsu said, "Liberia 
is like North Korea.  If we don't deal with it now, the problem 
will be more serious later on.	I think the crisis will engulf 
the whole African region."

U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary for African Affairs 
Walter Kansteiner told the group that  the policy toward Liberia 
was first of all one of "containment" and then rebuilding civil 
society within Liberia.  Hsu said that	"Kansteiner said the 
U.S. has made propositions for free, fair and open elections to 
Liberian President Charles Taylor, but that Taylor hasn't 
responded." 

When the Liberian sanctions come up for annual review by the UN 
Security Council this May, the U.S. will consult with allies to 
see if further sanctions can be imposed, such as maritime 
shipping restrictions that would prohibit Liberia's exploiting 
the Flags of Convenience law, according to Kansteiner.

Finally, Kansteiner said that decent and functioning structures 
within society need to be strengthened and suggested that radio 
could play a major role in targeting the message of peace to the 
region. In many African settings, the only functioning 
institution in civil society is the church and that the church 
has a special role in addressing national problems. 

Back on the agenda

In one meeting with government officials, Anglican Bishop Tilewa 
Johnson of The Gambia, chair of The Gambia Christian Council, 
said, " We can't do it alone." He called on the United States to 
put the West African sub-region "back on the agenda."

"Our churches are trying to . . . bring back peace, give 
refugees a better quality of life, fight against the circulation 
and proliferation of small arms, and provide work for youth and 
women so they can live in dignity," said Anglican Bishop Albert 
David Gomez, president of the Christian Council of Guinea. "We 
are working with inter-religious councils in Liberia and Sierra 
Leone, and now with a forum of religions in Ivory Coast." 

"Your struggles are my struggles," said Congresswoman Barbara 
Lee (D-California), who serves on the U.S. House of 
Representatives Committee on International Relations, 
Subcommittee on Africa. She questioned the Bush Administration's 
policies because "war on terrorism and on Iraq drains resources 
from development assistance and work to support peace and 
security on the continent."

Volatile situation

In Washington Richard C. Parkins, director of Episcopal 
Migration Ministries, talked with the West Africans, saying, 
"Dealing with the refugee crisis is part of peace and 
reconciliation. One of the crises is food."

Parkins said, "The World Food Program is responsible for 
providing food to all refugee camps of more than 5,000 people 
around the world--and most camps in Africa are at least that 
big." WFP has appealed for $84 million "and most donors aren't 
stepping forward."  The U.S. has released $15 million in 
emergency food aid, but it's not enough, according to Parkins.

"Because the food crisis is so severe," Parkins continued,  
"there is fear refugees will be involved in civil disturbance.	
We have seen it in Tanzania but not yet in West Africa.  It 
could lead to reaction by host governments against the 
refugees."

"It's really a concern that the problem will be particularly 
acute in Guinea," Parkins said.  "Most refugees in West Africa 
now are Liberian," he added, "and Guinea says they can't take 
any more. So we have a very, very volatile situation."

Parkins told the delegation that one alternative is to allow 
modest cultivation around the refugee camps, "which has been a 
safety net in some parts of Africa." But some governments 
haven't allowed it.  "So if there's anything you can do," he 
told the church leaders,  "encourage local and national 
governments to be as hospitable as possible and to allow some 
farming and not to forcibly repatriate."

Liberian delegate Comfort M. Freeman of the Women's Initiative 
for Peace and head of the Lutheran Church Women's Committee told 
Parkins that the problem with cultivation in Liberia is that 
forest land has been invaded by armed men and refugees, and 
internally displaced people "are squeezed into small areas and 
can't move freely." She did report that since September the WFP 
has been giving rations on a regular basis.

New eyeglasses

Delegates spoke to members of Africa-vested NGOs and the public 
in a closing "Ecumenism Working for Peace and Justice in Africa" 
forum on March 16 at St. Bartholemew's Episcopal Church in New 
York City. Claudia McGeary, founder of Faith in Africa, 
introduced the event, and quoted the Rev. Michael Perry, foreign 
policy and Africa advisor for the U.S. Catholic Conference of 
Bishops, who said, "The world needs a new set of eyeglasses for 
Africa." Forum moderator Charles Simmons of St. Bartholemew's 
called for solidarity "with this most beautiful and tragic 
continent."

Liberian delegate Prince Porte said that the church in Africa 
today "has taken on the role of government in many African 
societies . . . involved in advocacy, humanitarian assistance, 
the fight against HIV/AIDS, education, and socioeconomic 
security. The church is even more relevant today in the face of 
civil war in many countries," he said, and the only hope for 
many. "That's why the delegation is here, advocating for the 
people."

Ghanaian Baffour Amoa referred to the biblical prophecy that the 
churches would "be called oaks of righteousness . . . they will 
rebuild the ancient ruins . . . they will renew cities." He said 
churches in Africa today are fulfilling that prophecy. "The 
church in Africa is seeking to enter the domain of economist 
long held out as the privy of political leadership."

Baffour said that there are not many church leaders who are 
comfortable enough to engage in debate of economic matters. "The 
church," he said, "should bring moral as well as religious 
perspectives to bear on the development of economic policies 
that promote human dignity and make the welfare of people the 
cornerstone of future economic policy."

Work of reconciliation

Alimamy Koroma told the Manhattan forum that in Sierra Leone, 
the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) 
was a condition of the political settlement. "Our goal is to 
write our history and say Never agai' concerning the human 
atrocities that occurred during the conflict," he said.

Koroma said the TRC will eventually be dissolved, "but the work 
of reconciliation will continue to end war elsewhere in the 
region, rebuild physical and social infrastructure, and society. 
When everyone is sensitized, our governments begin to sit up 
straight," he added.

Victoria Bangura said that for Sierra Leone to move forward, 
people--especially women--must be empowered. "An empty bag 
cannot stand," she said. She called upon American Christians to 
help eliminate poverty in Sierra Leone. "We have good land. If 
we have the means to cultivate it, our youth will be occupied. 
Help us eradicate HIV/AIDS. Help us with education." She talked 
of women helping to bring young men ex-combatants and child 
soldiers "out of the bush," assisting them in re-integrating 
into society. 

Freeman said that in Liberia appeals for peace over the last 12 
years seemed "not to be yielding any fruitful results," and 
talked of massive displacement of women and children. She said 
women in Liberia met under the auspices of Lutheran church women 
and decided to rise up, "calling on the fighting forces to 
stop."	With thousands of people killed and millions of dollars 
in property and infrastructure destroyed, she said, "Our 
children's future is blank. Where are we heading?" 

Christian women in Liberia are pleading for "an unconditional 
ceasefire, dialogue, and acceptance of a neutral monitoring 
force." She believes women's participation in the peace process 
will be key. "Women bridge political and social gaps, have their 
finger on the pulse of communities and cultures, can move around 
and negotiate, and are able to find solutions at the 
grassroots," she said. "They have a remarkable ability," she 
said, "to cross conflict lines." 

Role of the churches

In a high level roundtable at the UN March 10, Yvette Stevens, 
UN Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed 
Countries, addressed the gathering of West African delegates and 
some 50 key UN officials and representatives of faith-based 
non-governmental organizations. She echoed the delegates' 
message that "conflict and development are mortal enemies." 

Stevens said that the Mano River region thought it was immune 
from the civil strife raging in other parts of Africa, until 
civil war broke out in Liberia in late 1989, spread to Sierra 
Leone, and spilled over into Guinea. The breakdown displaced 
millions within their own countries and across borders, killed 
many, ravaged essential infrastructures, and in Sierra Leone 
incited some of the worst human atrocities of the 20th century. 
The fighting, still going on in Liberia, has now spread to the 
Ivory Coast. 

"Africa has for a long time been on the UN agenda," Stevens 
said, but the link between conflict and development was not 
fully known until a special UN report in 1998.	Stevens 
reinforced the UN's commitment to keep Africa on the front 
burner and said that the continent's future "rests on 
partnerships."

During the UN roundtable, held to a backdrop outside the UN of 
protests against the impending war with Iraq, Ruth Bamela Engo, 
UN Senior Economic Affairs Officer, OSCAL, affirmed the role of 
the churches and civil society in promoting peace with justice 
in West Africa. Engo said they represented "a tremendous source 
of moral authority, not only among their followers but also the 
broader community." 

Baffour Amoa told the UN group that "in Africa and Latin America 
the voice of the church can no longer be ignored. In many 
countries (on those continents), the church is one of the few 
sectors with a grassroots network and is often the only 
functioning sector."  In 1900 Africa had 10 million Christians, 
9% of its population. Today the number is 360 million, or 46%. 

"The church has a voice and must be listened to," said Amoa, or, 
as one UN official put it, "they are viewed by some African 
governments as nuisances -- but necessary nuisances."

Youssef Mahmoud, director of the Africa II Division in the UN's 
Department of Political Affairs, closed the UN roundtable, 
urging organizations such as Church World Service "to build on 
the great energy of civil society in West Africa and make their 
voices better heard.  It's the churches and other grassroots 
organizations that are moving the agenda for peace, bridging the 
gap between legitimacy and power."

------

--Jan Dragin is media consultant for Church World Service. Carol 
Fouke-Mpoyo of the National Council of Churches communication 
staff reported on the delegation's visit.