wfn.org | LWF: Mwalimu Nyerere was a teacher and friend

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

General Secretary pays tribute to the late Tanzanian President

GENEVA, 20 October 1999 (lwi) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has
described the former Tanzanian President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere as a leader
who taught by example, never imparting lessons in a confrontationalist way,
but with quietness, dignity, honesty and compassion.

In a message of condolence addressed to the Tanzania's President Benjamin
Mkapa and the people of the East African country following the death of
Mwalimu Nyerere on 14 October in a London hospital, the LWF General
Secretary Dr. Ishmael Noko says the Federation found in Nyerere "a teacher
(mwalimu), certainly, but also a friend."

"It was his compassionate initiative which, in the early 1980s, offered
citizenship and new hope to refugees in Tanzania who had fled from the
Great Lakes region and who the LWF was supporting," the letter from Noko
states.

The LWF General Secretary recalls Mwalimu's participation in LWF
consultations on "A Just Africa: Ethics and the Economy" in 1994 and notes
that the Tanzanian leader brought "as always a perspective which focused on
people and their lives as members of African communities." Noko notes that
many in the Federation remember when Nyerere as President of Tanzania, came
to address the LWF Assembly in Dar Es Salaam in 1977, at which time he also
hosted a memorable reception for the delegates. The General Secretary adds:
"He accompanied us in these and many other ways."

Nyerere led his country, the former Tanganyika to independence from Britain
in 1961, and was the nation's first president in 1962. He stepped down from
the presidency in 1985, becoming one of the few post-colonial African
leaders to relinquish leadership voluntarily.  After retirement, he was
involved in domestic and regional political initiatives, mostly focused on
reconciliation and peace building. He had been diagnosed with leukemia in
1998 and had been undergoing treatment in a London hospital where he died
mid-October following a stroke.

Mourning Mwalimu's passing away the LWF pays tribute to the fact the late
African statesman oversaw the peaceful birth of a modern Tanzanian state
which transcends ethnicity and which remains an example to the many parts
of Africa torn by ethnic hatreds.

The LWF also recognizes Nyerere's key role in the process of African
decolonization and liberation, particularly in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia
and Zimbabwe, in opposing apartheid and in pursuing a political solution in
South Africa, as well as bringing an end to dictatorship in Uganda. He
pointed the way to African unity and solidarity in joining with other
African leaders to found the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963,
the letter from Noko underscores.

And in 'retirement', Nyerere championed peace in Burundi, serving as
mediator in talks to end the civil war in that country. Also, he continued
to insist upon the importance of ethics in all areas of public policy, and
to tirelessly address the disparities between rich and poor nations and
people. In his leadership of the South Commission (and its successor
organization the Intergovernmental South Centre), he pioneered the
promotion of cooperation and solidarity among developing countries in
reviewing development strategies and proposing alternatives.

According to Noko, Mwalimu Nyerere was an African leader "whose opinions
were respected internationally and whose message was one of peace,
stability, development and dignity. I pray that his lessons will always be
carried in the hearts and expressed in the lives of Tanzanians, of all
Africans and of all peoples of the world," the general secretary concludes.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania in
Geneva has announced that a Requiem Mass in memory of His Excellency Julius
Nyerere will be held on Thursday, 21 October at 17.00h at the Pope John
XXIII Center.

(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. The LWF secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[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
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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
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