Peace and War

A World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Kigali discussed peace and security issues in Africa, with more than ninety church and ecumenical leaders. Together, they also reflected on Rwandan experiences of ethnic violence, genocide and church initiatives of reconciliation in the past.

Methodist Archbishop Michael Kehinde Stephen of Ibadan, Nigeria has appealed to Christian and Muslim leaders worldwide to act together in the face of extremist violence that threatens to divide Nigerians along religious lines.

Given the significant role played by the young people in pursuit of peace in communities, the World Council of Churches (WCC) features reflections from eight young people from around the world in its new book Echos for Peace, addressing the issues of global peace, justice and nonviolence, launched recently at the meeting of Echos Commission on Youth in the Ecumenical Movement in Lebanon last week.

A call for solidarity with the poor was delivered to a gathering of religious and political and civil society leaders from all over the world by one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The meeting on the topic “Bound to Live Together: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue” is taking place from 11-13 September in Munich, Germany.

This past February the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee announced that the theme for the Tenth WCC Assembly in 2013 in Busan, Korea would be “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.”

In May, nearly one thousand church leaders and peace activists gathered in Kingston, Jamaica for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) where they released a statement calling for deeper church reflection and involvement in peace and justice.

African clergy say the Republic of South Sudan, which gained independence on July 9, must take steps to resolve an increasingly violent conflict in the troubled border region of South Kordofan.

“If the Government of South Sudan does not sit down to address the issues raised by the militia groups, it could become a nightmare with no stability for the South,” said Bishop Daniel Adwok of Khartoum in a recent interview with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

This robotic looking creature is actually a sculpture made up of destroyed weapons from the war of destabilization (1980's & 1990's) waged against the Mozambican government by a dissident group called Renamo. This group was funded and trained primarily by the South African military structure during the Apartheid era (although other western countries supported this war of destabilization) and internally in Mozambique had a certain very limited support.

Are you desperate to make a difference in your neighbourhood? Are you yearning for change in your community? You can make a difference. And we believe that we can all make a difference in bringing about peaceful community change.

The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi’s in Rwanda has been extensively written on, though many still baffle as to how and why it happened. However, the reality is that it happened. Summarizing an answer on how and why this happened may raise more questions. Thus, one may be advised to read the history and people of Rwanda to get a better understanding. When focusing on the genocide event itself, we learn about an unimaginable experience and act of violence, where, in as short as three month, over one million people were killed by machetes, shot, bitten to death, or even buried alive.

Escalating violence against civilians in Sudan’s disputed South Kordofan State is leading to major humanitarian catastrophe with an estimated 300,000 people besieged, cut off from relief aid, and unable to escape fighting, according to a number of aid agencies and witnesses in the region.

Up to 40,000 people have fled recent fighting between Sudanese government troops and members of the former southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), in Kadugli, the capital of Sudan’s oil-producing state of South Kordofan, the United Nations has said.