Christians and Muslims in Western Africa committed to peace

Christian and Muslim leaders from Western Africa have called on the followers of their two religions "to complement each others efforts for peace in society and peaceful co-existence" among the faith communities at a meeting organized by the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA) in Accra, Ghana, 24 July 2009.

They also underscored that religious leaders should "be politically impartial and refrain from partisan politics so as to ensure that [they] play effective roles as agents of peace, justice and reconciliation."

The WCC president from Africa, Rev. Dr Simon Dossou of the Protestant Methodist Church in Benin, was one of sixty Muslim and Christian clerics from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte D’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Togo, as well as representatives of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the Fellowship of Councils and Churches in West Africa (FECCIWA), to endorse the statement.

Full text of the statement:

• in English (pdf, 860 KB)
• in French (pdf, 860 KB)