wfn.org | FEATURE: Healing the Scars of Africa's Painful Violence

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

Faith Communities as Mediators in Intra-State Conflict

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa/GENEVA, 22 October 2002 (LWI) -
"Violent conflict is a pain with which you are all too familiar.
However, if Africa has the scars of violence, she has also
produced resources for its transformation," said Dr William
Vendley, Secretary General, World Conference on Religion and Peace
(WCRP), addressing over 100 delegates attending the landmark
Inter-Faith Peace Summit in Africa held near Johannesburg.

Speaking on "Multi-Religious Cooperation and Conflict
Transformation in Africa," at the 14-19 October summit, Vendley
identified factors that contribute to violent conflict as: group
identity, power relations and poor leadership. Group identity may
be based on ethnicity, clan, tribe, race, religion, geographical
affiliation or a combination these features. "Even religious
identity can be misused to promote conflict." True peace, he
noted, "calls for justice in these relationships."

Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat from Kenya, a senior consultant on
peace and conflict resolution in Africa, said the theological
outlook of religious organizations and their relationship with the
state, determines their effectiveness in fulfilling their roles in
dealing with conflicts. Speaking on relations between religious
communities and the state, he said most of the continent's
conflicts are intra-state-rebellion against the state. Since 1960,
thirty-five out of the 53 current members of the African Union
(AU) have suffered from conflicts. Concerning the type and
background of African leaders, Kiplagat said that at least 23
heads of state or government "come from military backgrounds and
these include leaders who have led armed rebellion against the
state." He singled out Sudan and Algeria as examples of countries
in which religion was a major cause of conflict.

Several countries in Southern Africa benefited tremendously from
church-led initiatives to bring peace. The South African Council
of Churches (SACC) led by retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond
Tutu, played a crucial mediation role between the apartheid regime
and liberation movements. "From time to time, the SACC held
meetings with the two opposing parties putting across the humane
aspect of reconciliation and co-existence," Ntate Kgalushi Koka of
the African Traditional Religion observed. "This helped a great
deal because, eventually the truth and reconciliation project came
up to be the center of uniting South Africans from all spheres of
life. We tried to cure racism and impress upon the oppressors that
after all we have a common humanness - Ubuntu," he said.

In Mozambique, ravaged by civil strife since independence in 1975
to the early 90s, churches put aside their differences and
dedicated themselves to work for peace. "Religious organizations
took an active part in efforts to bring about dialogue and
negotiations between the ruling Frelimo [Front for the Liberation
of Mozambique) and Renamo [Mozambique National Resistance].
"Millions of civilians lost their lives and the infrastructure was
destroyed," said Rev. Lucas Amosse, general secretary of the
Inter-religious Council of Mozambique. He noted that when the
Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) first became involved in the
search for peace in the country their immediate task was to
organize public worship to pray for peace. "As time went on,
churches made it a regular feature of their life to make the last
Sunday of the month a day of public worship interceding for
peace." It was because of the churches' sterling efforts that the
opposing leaders met and agreed to a cease-fire in 1992. Today,
Mozambique is enjoying the fruits of that dialogue and courageous
initiative by the churches, said Amosse, a former CCM general
secretary.

In Angola, churches and civic society took it upon themselves to
mediate in the conflict between the Union for the Total
Independence of Angola (Unita) and government forces by seeking
audience with members of the United Nations Security Council in
2000. "Catholics and Protestants and other members set up a
working group which was later transformed into a full-time
Council. This acted as a catalyzing force as it prepared the
ground for future negotiations between the warring parties," says
Rev. Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga, executive secretary of the
Inter-Eclessial Committee for Peace in Angola. He said Angolan
civic society engaged in public prayers for peace and took the
initiative to be heard by the world for the first time because in
failed previous peace processes, the two opposing sides were the
only participants. The Angolan government, obviously took a cue
from the churches' initiative and negotiated a cease-fire with the
opposition after the February 2002 death of Unita leader, Jonas
Savimbi. "This was a consequence of the role of the church and
civil society as preparations for the parties to meet in a more
friendly manner had already been made during the past three years
prior to the end of the war," Ntoni-Nzinga said.

Perhaps one the worst examples of an African country that has seen
the misuse of religious identity to promote conflict is Sudan. For
nearly 20 years, the people of Sudan have suffered through the
current civil war, pitting the mainly Islamic north against the
Christian and African-religion south, resulting in the death of
almost two million people. Rev. Samuel Ador, executive secretary,
Church and Society in Khartoum, Sudan, says ethnic and national
identity are critical issues in Sudanese nation building and
conflicts that are associated with it. The northerners believe
they are superior to the southerners, and this concept is misused
to alienate the latter group from the mainstream of economic and
social development. "In a broad sense, the issue of identity has
been grossly misused by consecutive military elite that have been
in power since independence [from Britain in 1956]. It is used to
confer political and economic advantages to the dominant group
that claim Arabism and Islamic faith," Ador said.

South African Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi hailed
faith communities in Africa for their significant role in the
historic transformation and shape of many countries on the
continent. "This summit proves that churches and religious leaders
continue to embrace within Africa a philosophy of commitment and
direct participation in the events which can shape our future," he
said at an evening reception of the Inter-Faith Peace Summit in
Africa. Religious leaders need to be motivated by a shared
goodwill, setting aside their differences and highlighting their
commonality in spirituality and service to God, he told
participants in the historic summit organized by the Lutheran
World Federation and hosted by the National Religious Leaders'
Forum of South Africa.

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 mllion 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
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