News
Participants in Christian-Muslim deliberations on conflict resolution in the Horn of Africa are "convinced… that religious leaders have a role and mandate in contributing towards [the] peace and reconciliation process in the region". They have called for "a wider regional peace conference for religious leaders from the Horn of Africa" to be convened by December 2009. Meanwhile, they ask for people of faith to join in prayer as well as in initiatives for spiritual renewal, humanitarian assistance and peace.
Abune Paulos I, patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and a president of the World Council of Churches, was among the 17 Muslim and Christian leaders who issued the communiqué on peace-building, healing and reconciliation in the Horn of Africa. Dr Agnes Abuom, a member of the WCC’s central committee and a former president of the council, was also among the document’s signers. Their statement followed a consultation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 30-31 July 2009 under the sponsorship of the African Council of Religious Leaders – Religions for Peace.
The communiqué was endorsed by Muslim and Christian clerics from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda as well as by representatives of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa (FECCLAHA).
