wfn.org | All Africa Conference of Churches - Noko urges embrace peace

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ALL AFRICA CONFERENCE OF CHURCHES
CONFERENCE DES EGLISES DE TOUTE LAFRIQUE

www.aacc-ceta.org	Tel: 254 - 20 - 4441483, 4441338/9 7 Fax: 254 - 20- 
4443241, 4445835 7 Email: secretariat@aacc-ceta.org
General Secretariat: Waiyaki Way, P.O. Box 14205, 00800 Westlands, Nairobi, 
Kenya
Our Ref:				       PRESS RELEASE

Embrace Peace, Faith Leaders Told

NAIROBI. (LWF) March 27 - The God that many people believe in and worship 
through their respective religions is not god of violence as may be implied 
by the name of the rebel group, the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) fighting 
the Uganda government. Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko, the General Secretary of the 
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Convener of the Inter-Faith Peace 
Summit in Africa, said this today in his opening remarks to the Inter-Faith 
Summit meeting here. Our faiths are centred on God of peace, of harmony, 
of love and of compassion, Rev. Noko remarked, as he made a call to the 
religious communities to condemn the LRA for the atrocities it has committed.

He asked all religious leaders in the Horn, the Eastern Africa and the 
Great Lakes region to stand in solidarity against the misuse of religion 
for political or other purposes.

Rev. Noko observed that the region was in great turmoil, which hindered 
human and economic development despite efforts being made.

He outlined flash point areas in the region as Uganda where recently 200 
innocent civilians lost their lives in the hands of LRA, Sudan where 
three-decade civil war has claimed more than a million lives, the 
Ethiopia/Eritrea boarder conflict and the yet to be stable countries of the 
Great Lakes region such as Rwanda and the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC).

Against that backdrop, the LWF General Secretary said the initiative by the 
Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa was crucial and urged that its 
vision be upheld.

He called upon the religious leaders and communities to demonstrate by 
action that they were committed to what they advocated noting that 
cooperation among themselves was necessary for peace building. He added, 
It is very important that our inter-religious efforts for peace in this 
continent should be a good example to our politicians and to our societies. 
We should avoid the fragmentation and duplication that is all too often 
seen among us.

He disclosed that he had received a letter inviting Inter-Faith Action for 
Peace in Africa to send a delegation to the Parliament of the Worlds 
Religions due to take place in Barcelona  Spain in July and proposed 
representation of Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa.

All was not lost, Rev. Noko pointing out that there were signs of hope in 
the continent as signaled by the establishment of Africa Union, the 
inauguration of the new African Parliament and Court for Human Rights, and 
the creation of the New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD). These 
were indications that Africa is ready to take charge of its problems and 
find solutions to the same, and similarly asked the religious leaders to 
have a key role to play alongside political leadership to make the African 
Renaissance a reality.

By Joseph K Amolo

AIMS Media for LWF