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Interfaith Conference Ends with Commitment to Healing and Reconciliation IFAPA Convenor Noko Speaks of a New-Found Partnership in Africa
TRIPOLI, Libya/GENEVA, 3 September 2007 (LWI) * In a six-point action plan, representatives of Africa's seven faith traditions endorsed their commitment to prevent, manage, resolve and transform violent conflict in Africa, with a view to changing the continentâs negative image. Meeting under the auspices of the Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA) in the Libyan capital Tripoli, from 27-30 August, they reiterated a common resolve to healing and reconciliation in ongoing peace processes on the continent.
Although the second IFAPA Commissioners' meeting prioritized solidarity peace visits to Burundi, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Northern Uganda, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rev. Amegah Kwaku, president of Confessional Lutheran Churches of French-speaking Africa had appealed for an interfaith peace delegation to Togo, citing heightened tensions that were causing anxiety among church leaders.
"They need to come here and talk to the political authorities about holding an election without violence. They could strengthen what the churches have been emphasizing: that if there is no violence, there will be peace. They could talk to the party leaders and other groups," Kwaku proposed.
General elections are planned in the West African country, but a date has not been set yet. Fear of violence has increased with growing tension between the ruling coalition and the opposition.
Careful Balance
For Ethiopia and Eritrea, the unresolved tension over the Badme border conflict, remains a cause of concern for the religious leaders. "A careful balance must be exercised when you chose those who visit Eritrea and Ethiopia. If IFAPA has to go there, it should offer the two leaders a proposal which makes each one of them a winner," said Rev. Iteffa Gobena, president of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus.
The Rev. Leonard Amos Mtaita of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania urged the IFAPA commissioners to ensure that solidarity visits to conflict-prone regions included meetings with top government representatives.
The strategy to meet with government officials is effective, according to Bishop Sumoward E. Harris of the Lutheran Church in Liberia, referring to an IFAPA delegation visit to his country prior to the 2005 general elections.
"When they [African religious leaders] came to Liberia, they gave us some direction. The visit had great impact. What we are doing now is to make IFAPA felt at the ground through the local initiatives so that what ever is happening will not need someone coming from abroad to do what IFAPA envisages," said Harris, an IFAPA commissioner.
IFAPA commissioner Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Norwegian Prime Minister, who had presented a paper titled, "Party Politics and Coalition Governments" said he was convinced coalition was good for democracy. "In a coalition we have to take into consideration different views and interests and make compromises between them, one group cannot dominate. This in principle is in accordance with the idea behind democracy and it is quite opposite to the idea of the winner takes it all."
Since IFAPA's founding in October 2002, this was the first time that any of its gatherings had taken place in North Africa. Hosted by the Tripoli-headquartered World Islamic Call Society, the meeting was organized by the Union of Muslim Councils for Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. It brought together IFAPA commissioners, Libyan government officials, Members of Parliament from various African countries, some observers from Europe and North America, as well as media persons.
Peace Education
Summing up his impressions of the interfaith body on the eve of its fifth anniversary, IFAPA convenor and general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko said: "We have come a long way in the last five years of IFAPA, from an initiative that involved only religious leaders and communities to a partnership between the religious communities, private sector and political leadership. I hope that the coming years will take IFAPA forward to a stage where peace education will be a joint responsibility in this new-found partnership."
On his perception of IFAPA's possible intervention in his own country, Zimbabwe, currently experiencing a deep political and economic crisis, Noko told Lutheran World Information (LWI): "IFAPA recognizes the initiatives taken by the continental ecumenical body, the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), and any intervention would be in collaboration with the AACC, building on the latter's initiative. The added value of IFAPA is its interfaith perspective that would include the Islamic and other faiths communities in Zimbabwe," Noko explained. (746 words)
(Reported for LWI by Kenyan journalist Fredrick Nzwili, who attended the IFAPA Commission meeting in Tripoli.)
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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of nearly 66.7 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith 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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