wfn.org | LWF welcomes Sierra Leone's peace accord

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Hopes that a culture of peace will be promoted

FERNEY VOLTAIRE, France/GENEVA, 28 July 1999 (lwi) - The Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) welcomes the recently concluded peace accord for Sierra
Leone in the anticipation that such agreements provide the best prospect
of an end to the suffering and atrocities experienced by the people of
the West African country.

In a letter to Sierra Leone's President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, the
LWF General Secretary Dr. Ishmael Noko commends the head of state on the
successful conclusion of the peace agreement between the government and
leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Foday Sankoh on 7 July
1999 in the Togolese capital, Lome.

Noko expressed his and the LWF's prayer that "you and your government
will be strengthened in the days and months ahead, as you seek to
implement the accord and entrench a culture of peace in your country."

The Lome Accord, which marked the end of eight years of civil war and
six weeks of negotiation between the Sierra Leone government and RUF,
effectively paves way for a government of national unity. Media sources
at the signing ceremony quoted President Kabbah as calling on the people
of Sierra Leone to "forgive and forget" and dedicated the peace document
to all those who were victims of the war.

In his letter to President Kabbah, Noko notes that the peace agreement
was reached after what have been "exceedingly difficult negotiations in
which painful compromises have had to be made in the interest of peace."

Meanwhile, the LWF through the Department for World Service (DWS) and
the Department for Mission and Development (DMD) is assessing the needs
for assistance in response to an invitation by the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Sierra Leone (ELCSL).

The immediate plan is to send an assessment team to determine what the
presence of an LWF operation in the country could entail. Any operations
would be an extension of the DWS Liberia office. Plans and proposals for
such an involvement would be developed in close cooperation with other
ACT members in Sierra Leone together with and on behalf of the ELCSL.

ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting
human need through coordinated emergency response. The ACT Coordinating
office is based with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and World
Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

During a recent ACT meeting on Sierra Leone held in Ferney Voltaire,
France, Rev. Moses Khanu and Alimamy Koroma, both representing the
Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL) of which the ELCSL is a
member, reported on the overall political situation in the country, then
with the expectation that the government and the RUF would sign a peace
agreement (July 7).

The CCSL representatives told participants in the ACT meeting that
Sierra Leone's Inter Religious Council (SIRC), on which the council's
member churches are represented, was invited to Lome, firstly to witness
the internal discussions of the RUF and to play a facilitating role
between the government and the RUF.

Apart from the CCSL and LWF, other ACT partners represented in the
meeting which was held to review the rehabilitation and relief program
in Sierra Leone included Christian Aid (United Kingdom), Diakonisches
Werk (Evangelical Church in Germany-EKD), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA),
Dutch Interchurch Aid (DIA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

A member of the LWF since 1990, the ELCSL has a membership of 2,134.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee.)

[Lutheran World Information is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). 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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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/