Church forum fosters hope for peace

Concerted efforts to resolve continuing conflicts in the region offered "signs of hope in the direction of peace," the Global Ecumenical Forum for the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa concluded after a recent three-day forum in Limuru, Kenya. In Burundi, the churches had asserted their right to have a place at the Arusha peace negotiations, and had taken responsibility to interpret events in Arusha for people throughout the country, a press release from the forum stated. Rwandan church leaders had sought forgiveness for the churches' failings before and during the 1994 genocide, and the National Council of Churches was now making slow progress with reconciliation seminars and trauma counselling. In DRC, a
church-led national consultation process had brought recommendations or a transitional parliament, an amnesty for political prisoners and full freedoms for political parties, the forum statement said.

The church forum also condemned the ongoing ceasefire violations in the DRC and urged the international community "to fully commit itself to the [peace] process." More generally, it called for the demobilisation and reintegration into society of child soldiers, an intensive effort to demine heavily populated areas, and for regional governments to be forced into honouring their commitments to eliminate the use of landmines.