wfn.org | All Africa News Agency - AACC Assembly report Nov 26 03

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Special Edition On Eighth AACC Assembly November 26, 2003

IN THIS EDITION ......

AU Chairman Tells Africans To Uphold Solidarity 	Page 1

Kwesi Calls For Church-State Complementarity		Page 3

General Secretary Outlines Church Responsibilities	Page 4

Concept Paper Points Way Forward For AACC		Page 6

Incoming, Outgoing WCC heads Extol Ecumenism		Page 7

Lutheran Boss Applauds 'New Look' AACC			Page 8

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  We Need To Build A Sense Of Solidarity, AU Chair Tells Africans

YAOUNDE (AANA) November 26 - Africa is responsible for its current woes and 
should not put the blame on the past colonial governments, President 
Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, who is also the current chairman of the 
Africa Union (AU), said in his keynote address on November 23, at the 
opening of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) 8th Assembly here.

The Mozambican president said the Assembly theme, Come let us rebuild, had 
provoked his thought to ask the question: "Who destroyed Africa, for it to 
be rebuilt?"

According to him, the story of Jerusalem as recorded in the Book of 
Nehemiah, from where the theme was derived, was that the aggressors had 
destroyed it.  In Africa's case, even though the colonial governments 
subdued Africans, they helped in the construction of infrastructures such 
as roads, bridges, schools, which they left intact when the Africans fought 
for liberation and won.

He took his country as a case in point in which, after the colonial rulers 
left, Mozambicans took to destroy what had been built, in their civil wars 
that took 16 years to end. "The roads and bridges they were now talking of 
rebuilding, were all destroyed by the Mozambicans themselves," he said.

He gave a host of other examples where civil wars had caused destruction of 
the countries, such as Namibia, Nigeria, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of 
Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

President Chissano boldly pointed out that the reason behind Africa's 
continued self-destruction is persistent display of selfishness.

"We need to build the sense of solidarity among ourselves as the people of 
Africa, to rebuild our hearts," said the President.

Referring to the Assembly logo, which depicted hands of two people holding 
bricks in the rebuilding of Africa, President Chissano said it was a sign 
that the Church needed to "mobilise each one of us to come together with 
bricks" in the rebuilding of the continent.

He said the Church has all along been in partnership with the state in the 
transformation of the continent, and at no one time were the two apart.

Reflecting the mood of the theme, President Chissano said, coming to 
rebuild is only achievable through unity and "that is what NEPAD (New 
Partnership for Africa's Development) is all about, for sustainable 
development."

He reasserted that "we are not re-inventing the wheel in calling for 
partnership with the Church it has been there."

He said that the Church had the capacity of mobilising communities in the 
grassroots, pointing out that this was an advantage. He also noted that the 
Church was experienced in the provision of services such as education and 
health, which are considered crucial for development. Accordingly, he 
invited churches to assist NEPAD in this respect.

President Chissano underscored the close link between peace and 
development, saying one could not talk about development if there was no 
peace. "Wars undermine development policies," observed the Mozambican leader

Paying glowing tribute to AACC for its role, the President said history 
recognises the involvement of the AACC in the liberation struggle of 
Africa's nations, including Mozambique.

He underscored a programme that was undertaken by the Christian Council of 
Mozambique, that transformed guns into hoes, and led many combatants to 
drop their guns for the hoes.

It also turned many former rebel soldiers into productive citizens of the 
country. The success of this project, said Chissano, was manifest in the 
destruction of thousands of guns. He suggested that the same approach be 
used in countries that are just coming out of war situations.

He appealed to churches to help mobilise resources for the development of 
Africa, and invited them to work hand in hand with governments. Revisiting 
the issue of Africa's massive debts, he appealed for debt relief, so that 
the continent could utilise funds used to service the debts, for its 
development.

President Chissano called upon Africans to preserve their indigenous 
knowledge and use it in the development of the continent, acknowledging 
that culture was essential part in the development process.

He observed that many of Africa's problems were as a result of people 
abandoning their culture and copying others. Africa's culture, he noted, 
was that of peace. "The Church should be in the forefront to see that our 
culture is not lost," he said.

In the same breath, he urged the Church to embrace the Christian religion 
within the context of Africa's culture, but pointed out that those cultural 
practices that are harmful must be discarded.

Giving his own experience as a Catholic, he said he could not understand a 
word in the Church's worship when it was done in Latin, a culture brought 
by the missionaries. He blamed Africans for sticking to such cultures 
without changing them over a period. He observed that it was the same with 
Islam where Muslims refused to translate the Koran into other languages, 
only praying in Arabic.

  Reported by Joseph K'Amolo

  Kwesi Emphasises Need For Church-State Complementarity

YAOUNDE (AANA) November 26 -  Churches need to understand and take 
advantage of the need for complementarity between church and the State in 
Africa and, if the people of Africa are to progress, be prepared to 
denounce irregularities, the President of the All Africa Conference of 
Churches (AACC), Professor Kwesi Dickson, has said.

Addressing the over 500 delegates attending the 8th AACC General Assembly 
here, Prof Dickson said that the political power will continue to be abused 
until the Church does more than denounce the abuses.

"While the Church should not abandon or compromise its prophetic 
responsibility, [it] also needs to be assisted to understand the principle 
of complementarity in areas such as economic renewal," he said, adding that 
the witness of the Church in any country, represents a collective witness, 
and any assault on a Church leader in any country, is an assault on the 
Church in Africa.

In terms of democracy, Kwesi posed the question whether democracy should be 
extended from the political to social, economic and even familial realms, 
or remain a question of political decision making, election and 
governmental institutions as the case currently appears to be.

"I believe democracy should, essentially, be home-grown.  It should provide 
a means of transforming, not just political power, but also social, 
economic and even psychological aspects of power to create a truly 
equitable order.  The African experience has been that when communities are 
excluded from power, or when changes in ethnic power base occur, then 
conflicts break out," he said.

  Prof Dickson affirmed the Kenyan experience, which is based on the 
formation of a coalition as a way of conducting politics, and which 
recognises the multicultural nature of African societies, ensuring 
representation of various ethnic segments.

"We hope in time we will see most if not all nations of Africa having in 
place, constitutions, which recognise the people as the repository of 
sovereign power.  Churches should not tolerate bad governance; they should 
oppose it in no uncertain terms," he stated.

The AACC President said that since peace has been restored in many 
countries previously locked in civil wars, the challenge is to help former 
child soldiers restore their lost childhood.

"The rehabilitation and counselling of former child soldiers who were 
turned into killing machines, are crucial.  They need to be given hope and 
a sense of purpose for the future, he said, pointing out that according to 
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, about one third of the 
world's child soldiers, amounting to 120,000, are in Africa.

Referring to the proliferation of arms in the continent, Prof Dickson said 
that some 10 million small arms and light weapons were said to be in the 
hands of insurgents, local militias and a network of criminals in Africa.

Said he: "If small arms were edible, no one would go hungry in Africa. As 
the supply increases, so does the price drop, so that one rifle can be 
traded for a chicken in some parts of Africa. According to some studies, 
small arms alone have taken the lives of eight million people between the 
last Assembly (five years ago) and now."

The terms "globalisation" and "global village", according to Prof Dickson, 
have in reality limited significance, in that they apply to only one fifth 
of the world, excluding five billion of the six billion human population on 
earth.

At the economic level, Africa remained a mere subservient appendage to the 
global village, supplying a pool of cheap labour and cheap raw material and 
in return, providing markets for imports of unsophisticated products.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic, which continues to decimate thousands of lives in 
Africa, was a topic that was high on the agenda of the AACC Assembly.

Stating that the disease has become the most lethal scourge to the 
development of Africa, Prof Dickson, said that it does not occur by chance, 
but when circumstances offer a favourable breeding ground. He questioned 
whether Africa lacked the moral authority to deal with the epidemic.

The deployment of military personnel in conflict zones he said, added 
another dimension as troops increasingly became significant carriers of the 
virus to areas previously less affected by the syndrome.

In view of this, Prof Dickson called for an integrated and regional 
approach to tackle the scourge, saying that the crisis is an ecumenical 
challenge.

He cited statistics which bear grim witness to the situation. Africa today 
has 12 million orphaned children, left behind by close to 17 million 
parents who have died of HIV/AIDS.

Reported by Val Pauquet

AACC General Secretary Outlines Church Responsibilities

YAOUNDE (AANA) November 26 - For the Christian community and the world, 
Africa must become more than a mere object of pity with a perpetual begging 
bowl in hand, the Rev Dr Mvume Dandala, General Secretary of the All Africa 
Conference of Churches (AACC), told the over 500 delegates who gave him a 
standing ovation at the 8th AACC General Assembly, currently going on here.

Stressing the need for unity within the ecumenical family of churches, he 
said that Africa should be seen as an investment for the future in a world 
that has abandoned values that the continent still cherishes.

If the Church is to show integrity and stand by its Christian convictions, 
said Dandala, then Africa needs a Church that is going to ask questions 
about the seriousness of Africa's nations, when it comes to living by the 
constitutive acts of the African Union (AU) as passed by African parliaments.

"This may mean speaking out to those in power in ways that will not always 
make us popular, but we have a responsibility to God and to the continent, 
to do so," he said.

Dandala recommended that the Church should give more attention to the New 
Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as a tool for eradicating the 
continent's dire poverty.

He suggested that adequate consultation be entered into with African 
groupings such as the academia, churches, and civil society in 
conceptualising and developing NEPAD.

"Such consultations must be encouraged whilst not overlooking the fact that 
this initiative does point to an emerging leadership seeking to be 
responsive to the troubles of the continent, particularly Africa's weak 
economies and bad governance," he said.

He urged delegates to affirm the Peer Review Mechanism as a bold initiative 
for endeavouring to strengthen the resolve of African leadership to 
self-correct.

While engaging NEPAD, Dandala said that the Church needs to ensure that it 
examines the values and strategies employed to make sure that these will be 
accompanied by values and principles that the Church believes should guide 
proper stewardship of resource in the world.

"The demise of communism and its economic ideologies has left a dangerous 
situation where capitalism may easily be baptised as God's only way 
of  stewarding resources.  The Church must resist this temptation and 
constantly subject capitalism to the values of the Kingdom of Christ, where 
caring for and sharing with the weak, are the operative maxims," he stated.

Dandala requested the Assembly to mandate the AACC to help churches in 
Africa to focus on the following issues, if the Church is to be true to its 
prophetic witness in the world:

7 Africa's quest for peace and stability that will be fostered by good 
governance and effective continental co-operation.

7 Africa's need to overcome poverty that continues to cripple and 
dehumanise communities, particularly women in Africa.

7 Africa's struggle to free itself from killer diseases, particularly 
HIV/AIDS and its effects on the young.

7 Restore dignity to the disabled, which is their God-given right.

Reported by Val Pauquet

Concept Paper Points The Way Forward For Church In Africa

YAOUNDE (AANA) November 26 - Dr Agnes Aboum, World Council of Churches 
(WCC) President for Africa region, has introduced a concept paper, which is 
the result of a wide-ranging process of reflection and consultation 
concerning the tasks facing the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), 
and ways in which to address them.

The paper, tabled by Dr Abuom during a major presentation at the 8th AACC 
General Assembly currently underway here, gives a brief outline of the 
history of the ecumenical movement and current social and political 
realities in Africa, and emphasises the need for the reconfiguration of 
ecumenical structures to face the challenges of the day.

It acknowledges that there are major changes in the landscape of "our 
ecumenical partners," who are themselves restructuring and downsizing. The 
paper also identifies priority programme areas such as conflict resolution, 
peace building, economic justice and poverty reduction.

Among the strengths of the AACC as highlighted by the paper, are the 
organisation's functional governance system and basic infrastructure, as 
well as its qualified personnel.

The AACC is the largest Protestant network in Africa. The weakness 
identified include the lack of attention to the theological basis of its 
existence, the relevance to grassroots membership and the slowness of its 
decision making process.

The paper goes on to suggest that the AACC is under threat from competing 
NGO's in its traditional areas of operation, scarce internal resources and 
over-reliance on foreign donors.

Great opportunities, however, present themselves to the organisation. These 
include the challenges to help define Africa's humane contribution to the 
globalisation process, advocacy for just north-south relations, the removal 
of the debt burden (along with programmes for poverty reduction), and the 
struggle to contain and reduce HIV/AIDS.

The concept paper goes on to suggest areas that need to be addressed if the 
AACC is to confront the identified weaknesses and threats, and maximise its 
strengths and opportunities.

Among them are the organisational structure, financial and human resource 
management systems, and the effectiveness of its programmes. The paper 
outlines preconditions for change, suggests strategies to plan the way 
forward, and steps to be taken by the General Committee and the General 
Secretary.

By the time of going to press, the proposal of the General Committee that 
the Assembly adopt the recommendations of the Concept Paper was still being 
considered by the Resolutions Committee, before final presentation to the 
Assembly.

Reported by Dave Wanless

Incoming, Outgoing General Secretaries Extol Ecumenism

YAOUNDE (AANA) November 26 - The outgoing and incoming World Council of 
Churches (WCC) general secretaries have hailed the long-standing bonds 
between the WCC and Africa's churches, whose modelling of "economies of 
affection" and collaboration is much needed by the global ecumenical
movement.

Addressing the 8th Assembly of the All Africa Conference of Churches 
(AACC), meeting here November 22-27, Rev Dr. Konrad Raiser and the Rev Dr 
Samuel Kobia, also extended challenges to Africa's churches to make 
ecumenism real "on the ground", in order to join forces for radical 
structure change in the "almost intolerable" living conditions of Africa's 
working poor.

The two spoke at a plenary session titled, AACC Celebrates World Ecumenism, 
during which many bonds of affection were evident as the Rev Dr Mvume 
Dandala, AACC General Secretary, hailed Dr. Raiser for his "extensive 
commitment to Africa" during his tenure as WCC General Secretary.

Rev Kobia, who succeeds Rev Raiser in January 2004, was welcomed as the 
first WCC General Secretary from Africa.

Raiser, in his address, reviewed the challenges facing global ecumenism, 
including the pressure for "pragmatic organisational and structure changes" 
in order to "increase 'relevance' and 'attractiveness' by adopting 'looser, 
lighter and more flexible structures'".

"Clear goals and objectives are important," he said, and added: "But we 
must avoid the appearance of being resource driven.  We are the trustees 
and carriers of a vision ... expressed in the prayer of the Lord that all 
may be one and in the story of the great feast where all - from East and 
West, North and South - are gathered around the table."

Raiser continued: "There is a growing tendency among religious 
organisations, including those involved in the ecumenical movement, to seek 
wide visibility and strengthen their distinctive profile; they are thus 
seeking to adapt to the competitive rules of the global context."

According to the WCC General Secretary, the mission of the ecumenical 
movement "calls for increased co-operation and partnership, for mutual 
support, instead of maximising growth and influence at the expense of other 
partners".

During a discussion period, Raiser drew applause from the Assembly when he 
stated: "On many of my visits to Africa, I was sad that it took my visit 
for local churches to come together, and that it was not happening without 
my visit."

In his contribution, Rev Kobia traced the WCC's role from its inception as 
"a new space in which all churches feel at home.... For the first time, 
many African leaders attending the various meetings of the WCC were able to 
connect with Africans in the diaspora."

Like Raiser, Kobia also pressed for an ecumenism that reaches into the 
grassroots and works for justice. "The churches are called together to be 
creative and not driven by ideological but theological imperatives for 
radical structural change in the living conditions of the working poor," he 
said.

"They ought to establish parish networks of social study groups and 
awareness building initiatives that will strengthen the ecumenical movement 
from below.  It is vitally important that we bring theology back to the 
people, and craft new themes of spirituality that are congenial to our 
unique experience and place in the world."

Both Kobia and Raiser emphasised the importance of an "ecumenical 
formation" that stood the test of time, noting that it takes hard and 
constant work to transmit and renew the ecumenical vision with the passage 
of time.

Reported by Carol J. Fouke-Mpoyo

Lutheran Head Applauds 'New Look' AACC

YAOUNDE (AANA) November 26 - At the start of a new era for the All Africa 
Conference of Churches (AACC), Rev Dr Ishmael Noko, General  Secretary of 
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), sees a bright future for the  Pan 
African ecumenical organisation.

As word spreads in Africa of the overhaul, the AACC is set to gain 
significance on the continent and abroad, as it re-defines itself and turns 
rhetoric into action.

"Word will spread that the AACC has looked inward and criticised 
itself.  Because of its internal problems, it has matured and desisted from 
finger pointing.  This is a hugely positive foundational shift and augers 
well for its future," said Rev Noko.

The warm response to the AACC by President Chissano of Mozambique will also 
lend considerable credibility to the organisation.

Endorsing the critical role of the church in Africa, Chissano has given the 
church hope that it will play a more direct role in the affairs of the 
future of the African Union (AU).

"In 1986 the AACC tried to gain representation at the then OAU, but it 
failed because of the objections of some governments about the exclusion of 
other faith communities," Noko recalled.

"My advice to the AACC is to take into account Muslim countries in Africa 
like Egypt, Mauratania, Moroccco," he said, adding that there is an 
assumption that Christians tend to hog the limelight on the religious
platform.

"Ethical and moral issues are not the exclusive domain of Christianity. 
What is needed (and will be more acceptable) at the AU is for the 
inter-religious community to be given a voice.	This needs to be seriously 
engaged," noted the LWF General Secretary.

Noko was quick to point out, however, that this in no way is intended to 
negate the evangelisation process, but a way of consolidating on issues 
like environment, justice and protection of people - concerns shared by 
Jews, Hindus, Muslims and all faith communities.

As he returns to Geneva, Noko takes back the positive message that the 
decisions that the Lutherans took in November 1998, now have a place in the 
AACC.  This includes the formation of a Lutheran Council in Africa, whose 
membership will be brought to the AACC, and whose purpose it is to support 
the ecumenical organisation.

"There is now a very real potential of ownership and the Lutherans will 
take on the responsibility of filtering the information on the AACC down 
and making it known in its constituency."

Noko's final word of encouragement and hope to the over 500 delegates at 
the Assembly is to proceed with the vision of re-building, but not to 
exclude each other.

Reported by Val Pauquet