wfn.org | ACNS3349 West African church leaders plead for help in peace

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3349     |     USA     |	  17 MARCH 2003

West African church leaders plead for help in peace efforts

by James Solheim

[ENS] A high-level delegation of eight church leaders from West Africa -
including two Anglican bishops - is spending several weeks in the United
States, at the invitation of Church World Service, for intensive
consultations with government and church officials, pleading for help with
peace efforts in their troubled region of the world.

The ecumenical leaders are from the Mano River Union countries of Liberia,
Guinea, and Sierra Leone, accompanied by delegates from Gambia and Ghana, on
a common mission to mobilise support for resolution of civil conflict and
poverty in the region.

Until 1989, West Africans felt immune to the strife plaguing other parts of
Africa, but then civil war erupted in Liberia and soon engulfed next-door
neighbour Sierra Leone and most recently Ivory Coast. The conflict has
displaced millions of people, severely damaged the infrastructure, and
precipitated some of the worst human rights atrocities in recent history.

"Our children, who make up nearly half of our populations, have known
nothing but war," said Anglican Bishop Tilewa Johnson, a member of the
delegation, who chairs the Gambian Christian Council. He said that the
region won't have peace until the ongoing crisis in Liberia is resolved.
"When you put out a fire, to get it to stay out, you have to put it out at
its source. In our region, the fire started in Liberia and spread," he said.
He added that the proliferation of small arms and light weapons is
complicating the search for peace, convinced that the area is a testing
ground for new weapons.

Prince Porte, moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Liberia, agreed,
arguing that the international non-governmental organisations "put the cart
before the horse" when they sponsor refugee assistance and development
projects in West Africa without addressing the most important question - the
need for peace. "If we don't stop the war, we will always have refugees," he
said. "To have sustainable development, you have to stop the fighting and
sustain the peace."

A gift and a blessing

In welcoming the delegation to the Episcopal Church Center, Presiding Bishop
Frank T Griswold noted that the church leaders "bring peace as the dominant
concern in your part of the world as we here in the United States deal with
the hideous potentialities of war. Your own experience can help us develop a
different consciousness as we try to become better and more responsible
global citizens. Your visit is a gift and a blessing."

In comments following a luncheon, Bishop Johnson said that he was impressed
with "the strength of your networking as you work together to transform
unjust structures - and do something about the sinned-against people of West
Africa. We are here to give you first-hand information and encourage you to
continue to act cooperatively because you have what it takes to make things
happen. You have the capacity to discipline wayward, stubborn political
leaders in the world," he added with a smile.

Both Bishop Griswold and Bishop Johnson praised the Africa Initiative of
Church World Service, the relief and development arm of the National Council
of Churches. "CWS gets us beyond ourselves - as does the Anglican
Communion," said Bishop Griswold.

"Your visit reminds us that this is both a larger world and a very complex
one, but also very small," said the Revd Patrick Mauney, executive director
of the Episcopal Church's Office of Anglican and Global Relations, who
chairs the CWS board. Noting that "Iraq is taking so much of our attention,"
he said that "this may be the most crucial month in the history of the
United Nations." And he observed that Africa is a major player, since the
current president of the UN Security Council is from Guinea.

Shuttle diplomacy

Anglican Bishop, Albert David Gomez, president of the Christian Council of
Guinea and chair of the Interreligious Council of Guinea, reported that the
churches in the region are taking seriously their role as a "voice of
morality." Since there is often no dialogue between political opponents, the
religious community has used its trust to bring both sides together in
places like Liberia, sometimes using a type of "shuttle diplomacy" between
different opponents.

At one time Guinea, a nation of eight million, was hosting a million
refugees, many living alongside the local population. "Our churches are
doing their best to bring back peace, give refugees a better quality of
life, and provide work for youth and women so they can live in dignity,"
Bishop Gomez said.

A CWS delegation visited Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Gambia last
July and in September brought together in Nairobi, Kenya, the leaders of 31
national ecumenical councils in Africa.

Shortly after their arrival, the delegation addressed a forum at St James
Episcopal Church in New York and were guests at a reception at St
Bartholomew's Church in New York. "You come here at a very important
moment," said CWS Executive Director, John McCullough, "Because of events
that will shape how we understand each other as a community of nations
around the world. It's a particularly volatile time and I look forward to
our engagement with leaders of the United Nations, the US government, and
the churches on what is the quality of the world we want and how we will
support each other."

___________________________________________________________________

For details about the Enthronement of the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Most Revd Rowan D Williams, visit http://www.anglicancommunion.org/

ACNSlist, the email edition of Anglican Communion News Service, is
published by the Anglican Communion Office, London. QUESTIONS or COMMENTS
may be sent to: acnslist@anglicancommunion.org

You may subscribe to acnslist or unsubscribe at:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/acnslist.html