From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


LWF General Secretary Noko to Address West African Inter-Faith


From "Frank Imhoff" <Frank_Imhoff@elca.org>
Date Wed, 23 Jun 2004 10:58:28 -0500

LWF General Secretary Noko to Address West African Inter-Faith Summit
Co-existence: The Key to Peace and Development in Africa

ACCRA, Ghana/GENEVA, 23 June 2004 (LWI) - Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko,
general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) will
deliver the keynote address at an inter-faith summit for the West
African sub-region, June 23-24. Ghanaian President John Agyekum
Kufuor officially opens the conference today in Ho, some 170 km
east of the capital Accra. 

Convened under the theme "Co-existence: The Key to Peace and
Development in Africa," the summit organized by the Inter-Faith
Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA) will examine related issues
from the perspectives of, among others, African Traditional
Religion, Christianity and Islam. Presentations will include 22
country reports and an appraisal of inter-religious peace
initiatives in Liberia and Sierra Leone. 

Noko was convenor of the first continental inter-faith peace
summit, October 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting
led to the establishment of IFAPA, an initiative that encourages
networks of African religious leaders to be proactive in
promoting conflict-resolution mechanisms in their respective
regions and on the continent as a whole. Other sub-regional
conferences have taken place in Southern Africa, and Central/East
and Horn of Africa regions. A second continent-wide summit is
planned for the latter part of this year. 

One of IFAPA's challenges is to engage Africa's political
leadership in recognizing and integrating the role of religious
leaders in peace building on the continent. Ghana, the host
country, has actively participated in conflict resolution
initiatives in the West African sub-region, particularly in
Liberia. Noko will be meeting with the Ghanaian president to
raise concerns about the Liberian peace process. 

IFAPA coordinator Sheikh Saliou Mbacki hopes the current
gathering would further encourage inter-religious bodies to lead
missions to conflict areas in the region to seek reconciliation
between different groups. "This has been successful in the case
of Liberia," he notes.

Organizers point out that the West African sub-region "seems to
experience more relational crises than others," as a result of
the conflict situations in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria
and Sierra Leone. 

Participants in the sub-regional summit will agree on a plan of
action for resolving conflict through the use of genuine
dialogue, cooperation and advocacy based on faith convictions and
traditions. They are expected to introduce the so-called
Inter-Faith Peace Mission as an alternative means of brokering
peace in the region. (395 words)

(By Kenyan-based correspondent Noel Okoth, reporting on
IFAPA's West African summit on behalf of LWI.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing 62.3 million
of the almost 66 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information
service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not
represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various
units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation
(LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.]

*    *	   *

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