wfn.org | AANA BULLETIN No. 41/03 October 20, 2003 News

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

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AANA Bulletin			Bulletin APTA
Editor -Elly Wamari		Editor - Silvie Alemba

AANA BULLETIN No. 41/03 October 20, 2003 News

NEWS  SECTION

Church In Liberia Outlines Plan To Consolidate Peace

MONROVIA/NAIROBI ( AANA) October 20 - Liberian church leaders are set to 
hold a conference to develop ways of consolidating the newly-found peace in 
the country.

The conference, scheduled for October 29 to 31, will deliberate on issues 
such as disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation of combatants and their 
re-integration into communities, including reconciliation and forgiveness.

It will also look into effective ways of co-ordination of advocacy and 
humanitarian assistance.

This was disclosed to AANA by the Secretary General of Liberia Council of 
Churches (LCC), Rev Benjamin Dorme Lartey, who was in Nairobi recently.

About 100 Liberian church leaders from around the country are expected to 
attend.

The conference will be held under the auspices of the LCC, supported by the 
World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches 
(AACC).

The Liberian clergy said that a great concern of the Church in the country 
was the magnitude of human rights abuses, and low observance of the rule of 
law.  For this reason, he said, the Church needs to be the watchdog of the 
people.

Rev Lartey said there were rampant cases of rape and harassment of people, 
besides exploitation of resources of the country by the men with arms. He 
pointed out that they did not want a replica of what happened in Cote 
d'Ivoire, where people were not disarmed and are now causing a stalemate in 
that country.

The move by the Church in Liberia comes in the wake of a new transitional 
government headed by Gyude Bryant, a relatively unknown figure in Liberia's 
political circles, who assumed the highest office in the country after 
being sworn in last week.

Gyude Bryant, agreed upon by mediating parties in Liberia's peace talks in 
Ghana, takes over from the former Vice-President, Moses Blah, who has been 
acting as temporary president during the past few months, after Taylor's
exit.

The transitional government has been given a two-year mandate to take the 
country into democratic elections.

Reported by Joseph K'Amolo

  It's Systems Go For AACC Youth, Women Pre-Assemblies

NAIROBI (AANA) October 20 - Plans are set for youth and women pre-assembly 
meetings of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), to be held in 
Yaounde November 19 to 21, ahead of the AACC's 8th General Assembly, 
scheduled for November 22-27.

The pre-assembly meetings are expected to come up with resolutions 
addressing challenges of women and youth in Africa, which will be presented 
at the AACC's general assembly, to be held at the same venue.

Speaking to AANA, Interim Executive Secretary for AACC's Youth Desk, Rev 
Geoffrey H. Kaizamba, said such meetings are traditionally part of the main 
assembly, and offers a forum where the youth and women from various regions 
across the continent meet to deliberate on challenges facing them.

Rev Kaizamba said the pre-assembly meetings will offer participants an 
occasion to realistically reflect on issues that affect them, in order to 
come up with resolutions to pass to the main assembly for consideration.

One of the concerns that the youth will be deliberating at the pre-assembly 
include environmental degradation, which will be discussed under a 
sub-theme, Stewardship for the Protection of God's Creation, as a 
discipline that the youth need to adopt.

The other sub-themes, said Rev Kaizamba, will feature Youth and Peace 
Building, derived from the fact that young people are badly affected by 
conflicts and wars in Africa, either as victims or as perpetrators.  The 
HIV/AIDS pandemic is also featuring in the discussions.

Said Rev Kalzamba: "We want young people to be a caring and healing 
community, to address the issue of stigmatisation that prevails not only in 
the society, but even in the church circle. The assembly will act as a 
forum for the youth ecumenical formation that will enhance their leadership 
role in the church as well as in the society."

He continued: "There are some critical issues that inhibit the youth from 
realising their potentials. The pre-assembly will act as a platform to 
develop capacity building programmes and ecumenical leadership training 
through ecumenical formation."

The expected gains of the pre-assembly and the assembly proper, include 
increased level of awareness among the youth about ecumenism, increased 
effective implementation of their programmes, and enhanced leadership 
development process for the youth in AACC member churches.

AACC Women's Desk programmes co-ordinator, Ms Battu B. Jambawai, said the 
pre-assembly will provide a forum for women to discuss issues of concern 
specific to them, and will offer an opportunity for them to have better 
understanding of the assembly theme, Come, Let Us Rebuild.

According to her, while the theme of the assembly is about rebuilding, many 
women are pained because of structural violence  that communities subject 
them to.

She castigated cultural norms that still sideline African women, 
stating:  "Because of our culture, we are to be seen, not to be heard."  To 
this, she said, rebuilding, as suggested by the theme also means 
"rebuilding our whole being".

Accordingly, the two-day pre-assembly meetings will deliberate on factors 
that have contributed to the "brokenness" of women.

About 100 women, and the same number of youth are expected to attend the 
pre-assembly meetings.

Reported by Joseph K'Amolo

Peace Message With Oriental Taste Touch Malawians

BLANTYRE (AANA) October 20 - A new religious message of peace, but with an 
oriental touch, has been introduced to people in Malawi.

The message came through the Inter-religious and International Federation 
of World Peace (IIFWP), founded by Rev Sun Myung Moon, whose peace ideology 
is known world-wide.

At a recent meeting held in the country's commercial hub of Blantyre, over 
60 leaders from a wide range of religious, political and business entities 
joined Ambassadors of Peace, after declaring their commitment to the 
ideology of "living for the sake of others".

The meeting, the first of its kind in Malawi, was arranged by 
representatives of the Zimbabwe chapter of IIFWP.

Participants endorsed  a programme of action to lobby for an 
inter-religious council at the United Nations (UN) in New York, to 
compliment the world body's ongoing efforts to promote global peace.

Under the theme, The world at the Turning Point, the gathering considered 
innovative approaches to peace through responsible leadership and good 
governance.

IIFWP chairman, Rev Chung Hwan Kwak, said the interest to influence the UN 
religiously, has arisen from the crises of the present time, stating that 
humanity is on a new search for solutions to the most pressing problems in 
order to end "needless human suffering".

His statement  reflected an address made at the UN in 2000 by  Moon, who 
said then that while the world body could be regarded as a congress where 
each member state's interests were represented, there was need for 
considering formation of a religious assembly, or council of religious 
representatives within the UN structure.

Moon had pointed out that the UN, as currently structured, could not fully 
benefit from the spiritual, moral and social vision that came from religion.

This situation, according to Moon, weakened efforts of the world body, as 
it sought to carry out its most crucial mission.

The Blantyre workshop was dominated by an in-depth presentation by Rev 
Rudolf Faeber from Zambia, who dwelt on explaining the principles of peace, 
good governance, and inter-religious imperatives.

At the end of it all, the delegates pledged their commitment to the 
initiative of Ambassadors of Peace, to assist in the work of world peace by 
practising the principle of "living for others".

The commitment calls for their involvement in programmes that promote moral 
education for youth, inter-religious dialogue, service projects meant to 
assist the needy and those designed to overcome racial, national, cultural 
and religious barriers.

The Malawi group of inducted leaders now join over 4,000 representatives 
from other countries, who form a global team of men and women pledging to 
"rise above special interests" in seeking to work on behalf of others with 
the primary principle of "living for the sake of others".

Reported by Hamilton Vokhiwa

Pressure Mounts For Approval Of 'Overdue' Information Bill

LAGOS (AANA) October 20 - The Nigerian National Assembly has been urged to 
expedite action on the passage of a Freedom of Information Bill, currently 
before the House of Representatives.

The call was made in a statement made available to our reporter by the 
Freedom of Information Coalition, a nation-wide coalition of civil society 
organisations campaigning for the enactment of the Freedom of Information
Act.

According to the statement signed by the coalitions co-ordinator, Osaro 
Odemwingie, transparency and accountability are the baseline for democracy 
and good governance to ensure development.

The coalition says that under the current atmosphere of secrecy and lack of 
access to government records, it would be impossible to guarantee 
transparency and accountability.

As part of its campaign for the enactment of the Bill, representatives of 
the coalition have paid advocacy visits to members of the National Assembly 
nation-wide, to lobby them on the need to support the Bill.

The draft was introduced at the inception of the present democratic 
dispensation in July 1999, by some civil society organisations led by Media 
Rights Agenda, working in collaboration with some members of the House.

It seeks to provide a legally enforceable right of access to official 
government information.

Although the Bill went through the mandatory first, second and third 
readings, followed by a public hearing, which recommended that it should be 
passed, the House of Representatives failed to approve it before concluding 
its first legislative tenure.

Following its re-introduction to the new House, which commenced sitting 
this year after a general election, the Bill has again gone through the 
first and second readings, after which it was referred to the House 
Committee on Information, Human Rights and Judiciary for vetting.

"We are hopeful that the Bill may be passed this time around, but one 
cannot be too sure, considering what happened the first time," said
Odemwingie.

Reported by Lekan Otufodunrin

Malawi Scribes To Stand By Harassed Zim Counterparts

BLANTYRE (AANA) October 20 - The closure of the an independent newspaper in 
Zimbabwe, The Daily News, has triggered condemnation from media 
practitioners in Malawi.

Representatives of Malawi's National Media Institute of Southern Africa 
(NAMISA),  have criticised the Zimbabwe government, and have promised to 
petition the Zimbabwean High Commissioner in Malawi on the matter.

Secretary for NAMISA, Lowani Mtonga, expressed sympathy with a team of 
journalists from Zimbabwe who were in Blantyre to brief their colleagues on 
the situation in their country.

The journalists also visited South Africa, Botwsana, Namibia and Zambia.

National Director for Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Zimbabwe, 
Sara Chumbu, condemned journalists from the Southern Africa Development 
Community (SADC) region for not using their regional weight to help media 
in one country when in trouble.

She subsequently called on all media practitioners in the region to start 
helping each other in order to promote media freedom in the region.

Chumbu explained the repercussions of the closure of Daily News, pointing 
out that according to Zimbabwean laws, journalists who were employed by the 
paper are not supposed to work as media persons for two years.

The closure of Daily News last month has meant loss of jobs for the 60 
journalists that it was employing.

In the latest development, Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, has signed 
a new law governing what journalists in the country may publish.

The new legislation contains amendments introduced after the supreme court 
ruled that the earlier version was unconstitutional.

The law had originally stated that any journalist who published a falsehood 
would be guilty of a criminal offence.

The amended version now signed into law, says charges would only be brought 
if there was suspicion that the falsehood was published intentionally or 
recklessly.

Reported by Hamilton Vokhiwa

Anglican Primates Launch An Anti-Crisis Commission

LAMBETH/NAIROBI (AANA) October 20 - The much awaited crisis meeting of the 
Primates of the Anglican Communication to discuss the election of a gay 
bishop in America took place on October 15 and 16 at Lambeth Palace amid 
fresh fears of an impeding realignment in the 77 million member church.

Though the meeting was described as open and cordial, it brought out  the 
deep-seated resentment over the confirmation of Rev Canon V Gene Robinson 
as the bishop of New Hampshire.

Sources close to the meeting said the primates particularly from the global 
south spoke passionately about the uncertainty facing the Church, following 
the historic developments in August.

A statement issued after the marathon two-day meeting said the primates 
deeply regretted the action taken by the Episcopal Church of the United 
States (ECUSA), saying it would jeopardise the "sacramental fellowship in 
the Communion."

The Presiding Bishop of ECUSA, The Most Rev Frank T Griswold, took the 
primates through the constitutional procedures through which a bishop is 
elected and consecrated in his Province.

The bishops, however, challenged him, saying in most of their Provinces, 
Canon Robinson would not have even been eligible for election because of 
his chosen lifestyle, which is a canonical impediment.

"If his consecration proceeds, we recognise that we have reached a crucial 
and critical point in the life of the Anglican Communion, and we have had 
to conclude that the future of the Communion itself will be put in 
jeopardy," they said.

The meeting mandated the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams to 
establish a commission to consider his role in maintaining communion within 
and between Provinces when grave difficulties arise.

The commission will also look specifically into the theological and legal 
issues pertaining to the present crisis and make its recommendations in one 
year.

Reported by Justus Waimiri

War On Illicit Small Arms Now Targets Local Communities

NAIROBI (AANA) October 20 - An international non-governmental organisation, 
Oxfam, is planning to incorporate local communities in the fight against 
the proliferation of small arms in Africa.

This was disclosed here on October 9 by Oxfam's Media and Advocacy 
Co-ordinator for Small Arms for the Horn, East and Central African regions, 
Ms Gemma Swart.

In an exclusive interview with AANA during the launch of Control Arms 
Campaign, a new international campaign against the proliferation of small 
arms, Ms Swart said: "We have in the past concentrated on undertaking the 
mission on purely conventional manner - government to government system. We 
have now realised that local communities in the affected regions can 
contribute effectively towards battling out the menace."

Kenya was among 13 African countries selected to launch the campaign, a 
joint initiative by Oxfam, Amnesty International and International Action 
Network on Small Arms (IANSA), on war against illicit arms flows.

Other African countries that launched the campaign on the same date 
(October 9) were Mali, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Chad, Tanzania, 
Sudan, Uganda, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.

"This campaign will go	on until the year 2006, when the UN will convene 
once again for yet another major conference on small arms," explained Ms. 
Swart.

Reported by Osman Njuguna