24/11/2003

Chissano Addresses African Churchmen

Yaounde

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, who is also the current chairperson of the African Union (AU), on Sunday praised the role of African churches in seeking for peace based on justice, while tirelessly promoting, with all the means at their disposal, socio-economic progress.

Speaking in Yaounde to thousands of participants in the Eighth All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), Chissano recalled how it was Mozambican churchmen who had encouraged the government's dialogue with the then rebel movement Renamo. He said Mozambican bishops had served as middlemen between the government and Renamo before formal peace talks began in Rome in 1990.

"I personally had many meetings with bishops, who acted as our bridges for the first contacts with the rebels, before direct negotiations", recalled Chissano. "The negotiations themselves and the signing of the peace agreement took place inside a church institution, which was the Santo Egidio Community in Rome. So the peace we are experiencing in Mozambique is intrinsically linked to the church". Chissano stressed that, even before Mozambican independence, Frelimo, then still a liberation movement, established contacts with the churches. These contacts dated from 1963, a year after Frelimo's foundation.

"This was a clear recognition on our part of the importance of partnership with the churches, and more importantly, that the freedom for which we fought was a goal for which the churches were also struggling, in their own way", he added.

Links with the AACC were developed during Mozambique's independence war, Chissano said, mentioning in particular church assistance for Mozambican refugees.

The Mozambican leader also praised the stance taken by the churches against apartheid in South Africa, recalling that the World Council of Churches had set up a special unit dedicated entirely to the struggle against apartheid.

Chissano believed that the role of the AACC in the struggle for African liberation was a precursor of the spirit of partnership now expressed in NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development).

After independence, the churches remained active in working for peace, intervening in attempts to bring an end to many of the conflicts that have racked various African countries.

Chissano claimed that the churches were among those who had understood at an early stage that peace did not just mean an end to the shooting. Instead, they had always taken care to spread the culture of peace, tolerance, democracy and respect for human rights.

In particular, Chissano praised the work of the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) which, through its "Arms into Hoes" campaign, has been collecting weapons held illegally, on a no questions asked basis, and exchanging them for useful equipment such as agricultural tools.

"This programme has been a tremendous success", said Chissano. "Thousands of guns have been destroyed, and many of the former guerrillas were reintegrated into productive activities".

He proposed that this was a Mozambican experience that could usefully be extended to other countries emerging from armed conflicts, such as Liberia, Ivory Coast or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Before concluding his speech, Chissano invited the churches to give their support to NEPAD. He stressed that, within the NEPAD framework, churches will be able to continue promoting the expansion of education and health care.