wfn.org | Southern African Churches Boost Efforts for Peace in Congo

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

27-May-1999 
99199 
 
    Southern African Churches Boost Efforts for Peace in Congo 
 
    by Eunice Mafundikwa 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Churches in Southern Africa have agreed to step up their 
efforts to bring peace to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where an 
insurrection by rebels opposed to the government of President Laurent 
Kabila erupted nine months ago. 
 
    The rebels are supported by Rwanda and Uganda, while Zimbabwe, Angola, 
Chad and Namibia have sent troops to fight alongside President Kabila's 
forces. 
 
    At a meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, on April 27, the Fellowship of Councils 
of Churches in Eastern and Southern Africa, in consultation with the All 
Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) - the continent's leading ecumenical 
organization - decided to visit key political leaders involved in the DRC 
conflict. 
 
    "This visit should be two-pronged, assuming a church-to-church and 
church-to-state methodology," according to a communique issued at the end 
of the meeting. 
 
    The meeting also welcomed the cease-fire agreement signed in Libya last 
month by President Kabila and by Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni.  The 
peace deal, brokered by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, envisages 
the deployment of African peace-keepers, but has been rejected by Rwanda 
and the rebels, who did not participate in the talks. 
 
    Further peace talks are scheduled in June in Rome, sponsored by the 
Sant'Egidio community, a Christian peace organization which has 
successfully mediated in disputes in 
several parts of the world. 
 
    "At the level of church to state we undertake to write a letter to 
President Kabila and express our gratitude to him for the consultation due 
to take place in Italy," the communique states.  "We encourage other 
leaders who are party to this conflict to do the same thing.  We also 
undertake to write another letter to the churches in the DRC and express 
our solidarity with their efforts in finding peace," the communique said. 
 
    The fellowship committed itself to setting up a regional and 
continental committee of eminent church leaders to represent the church 
community in Africa at national, regional and 
international forums. 
 
    "The committee thus created should seek co-ordination of information 
and activities relating to the crisis in order to avoid duplication." 
 
    The Lusaka meeting was attended by ecumenical church councils from 
Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, as well as the Zambia 
Episcopal Conference, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, the Mindolo 
Ecumenical Foundation, the AACC and clergy 
from the DRC. 
 
    The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) and the AACC are also planning a 
meeting with selected clergy from the DRC to identify methods of 
influencing peace initiatives. 
 
    "I can confirm we are planning such a meeting, but I am afraid I cannot 
give details because we are still at the planning stage," ZCC's general 
secretary, Densen Mafinyane, told ENI. 

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