wfn.org | Congo's Religious Leaders Seek Inter-Faith Intervention to

["Frank Imhoff" <Frank.Imhoff@elca.org>]

Congo's Religious Leaders Seek Inter-Faith Intervention to Stop
Conflict
Solidarity Visits Called for Northern Uganda, Togo, Burundi

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa/GENEVA, 27 April 2005 (LWI) - Religious
leaders have warned of imminent escalation of conflict in the eastern
region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They are appealing for
immediate intervention by an Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa
(IFAPA) mission and representatives of international peace agencies. 

Rev. Gilbert Boissa, leader of the DRC delegation to the Second IFAPA
Summit near Johannesburg, April 21-25, urged religious leaders to appeal
to political leadership in the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda to urgently
address the issue of security especially in Eastern DRC.

He noted that arms' smuggling was on the rise as poverty levels
increased in a region where HIV/AIDS prevalence had risen among the
youth since the current fighting between militia groups and government
forces broke out in 1998. Some 3.3 million people, mostly women,
children and the elderly, are estimated to have died mostly from disease
and starvation, and over two million people have been displaced. Only
concerted efforts by the top leadership of the three Great Lakes Region
countries, Boissa said, could stop the conflict over the control of
resources and struggle for political power.

There was calm following the IFAPA peace mission in October 2004 but
the security situation had deteriorated in recent months, Boissa noted.

Indeed the "Kopanong Manifesto" adopted by religious leaders attending
the Second IFAPA Summit, underlined the need to continue with such
solidarity visits, saying they had given encouragement and inspiration
both to those who participated in them and their hosts. Immediate
intervention was also called for in view of the conflict in northern
Uganda, Togo and Burundi. 

However, further follow-up on such visits is needed in order to build
on the existing opportunities and fulfill the expectations created.
Delegates attending the second summit expressed appreciation for the
IFAPA delegation visit to Southern Sudan last March, and also called for
a similar visit to Northern Sudan. They noted that while the 2005 peace
agreement signed between the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement and
the Khartoum Government was a significant step, sustaining peace
remained a major concern.
(See http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/1633.EN.html)

Religious representatives from Uganda urged immediate intervention in
the northern part of the country, where nearly two decades of rebel
insurgency between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and government
forces has displaced 90 percent of the population. Not only are 1.5
million internally displaced persons forced to live in overcrowded camps
under inhumane conditions, but security continues to be a major concern.
Children are abducted and brutalized into fighters, with the girls also
being turned into sex slaves. The people are subjected to further
ambushes, massacres and torching of huts, they said. 

Rev. Macleord Baker Ochola II, representing the Acholi Religious
Leaders' Peace Initiative at the IFAPA summit, expressed hope that peace
in Southern Sudan would positively impact on similar initiatives in
northern Uganda. The LRA operates from bases in Southern Sudan, remarked
Ocholla II, who led the inter-faith delegation visit to Sudan. (505
words)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a membership of
nearly 66 million Christians. 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.)

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