wfn.org | African Religious Leaders Launch Inter-Faith Peace Summit

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

African Religious Leaders in Procession, Prayers to Launch
Inter-Faith Peace Summit
Finnish Ambassador Lintonen Stresses Role of Religious Communities
in Securing Peace

BENONI, South Africa/GENEVA, 14 October 2002 (LWI) - A historic
one-week conference of religious leaders from different faith
communities in Africa opened in South Africa today with a colorful
procession by delegations from different faith communities drawn
from all over the continent.

Representatives of African Traditional Religion, Baha'i  faith ,
Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism wearing their
robes and symbols of authority, observed a silent procession at
the Kopanong Hotel and Conference Center, Benoni, near
Johannesburg, launching a first Inter-Faith Peace Summit in
Africa.

The 14-19 October conference is being organized by the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) and hosted by the National Religious
Leaders' Forum of South Africa (NRLFSA).  Religious delegations
are drawn from 21 African countries, and observers as well as
resource persons from Finland, the United States and Sweden.

After the procession, prayers and scriptures/holy writings during
plenary session were offered by representatives of the respective
faith traditions * Sheikh Abu Bakaar Conteh (Islam, Sierra Leone),
Ntate Kgalushi Koka (African Traditional Religion, South Africa),
Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris (Judaism, South Africa), Ms Lucretia
Warren (Baha'i faith, Botswana), Roman Catholic Cardinal Wilfrid
Napier (Christianity, South Afria), Methodist Prelate Sunday Mbang
(Christianity, Nigeria) and Peter Just (Buddhism, South Africa).

In her address to the Summit participants, the Ambassador of
Finland to South Africa, Ms Kirsti Lintonen stressed the important
role played by churches and other religious communities in
securing and building peace. "People listen to you. You have an
authority based on faith and word, ethics and morality."

She noted that Africa has been suffering from numerous armed
conflicts but also recognized hopeful signs of efforts to forge
peace. Ambassador Lintonen mentioned the new African Union and New
Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD, as a new commitment
by Africa itself to lift its peoples from poverty and conflict.

The Rt. Rev. Mvume Dandala, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist
Church of Southern Africa and President of the South African
Council of Churches said, "We are conscious of this summit being
the first of its kind on the continent of Africa.  We receive you,
not because we have much to offer, except the pain of violent
conflict that we experienced in this country in the years 1993 *
1995, and the courage of simple men and women in standing up for
peace.

"The religious communities in South Africa stood together in the
struggle against apartheid.  In the dawn of democracy they stood
together to help defeat violence in our beautiful land.

"This first hand experience of pain and suffering, as well as the
knowledge that when men and women stand in unity, violent conflict
can be displaced by peace, has instilled in us a dream of our
continent.  A dream of peace and prosperity in Africa in our life
time. We open our arms to receive this summit, in the hope that
the seeds will be planted here, that monitored together by the
sons and daughters of Africa will be a blessing to the future of
Africa and her children.

It was Dandala's hope that the summit would be a first step toward
active inter-faith cooperation and co-existence in Africa that
will play a crucial role in the elimination o violence and war on
the continent. The Methodist bishop is an NRLFSA committee member.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical 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 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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