wfn.org | Inter-Faith Group Seeks Active Involvement of Togo*s Religious

["Frank Imhoff" <Frank.Imhoff@elca.org>]

Inter-Faith Group Seeks Active Involvement of Togo's Religious Communities
in Reconciliation
Hope, Willingness to Overcome Political Crisis

LOMÉ, Togo/GENEVA, 22 July 2005 (LWI) - An inter-faith peace mission to
Togo has called
on the country's religious communities to join forces to promote a
"healing process" to overcome a political crisis that began this year, but
whose root causes go back much further.

"Our assessment is that working together will strengthen the hope and
willingness we sensed on our visit that people are ready to move forward,"
the delegation leader, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary
Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, told a news conference in Lomé, July 21.

He was giving findings of the July 17-21 delegation representing the
Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA), a group founded at a
pan-African summit of religious leaders in 2002.

Togo was plunged into crisis in February with the death of the country's
long-serving president, Gnassingbe Eyadema, and the appointment of his
son, Faure Gnassingbe, to succeed him in defiance of the constitution.
Violence erupted when Faure Gnassingbe was declared the winner of an April
poll, which opposition parties complained had not been conducted fairly.
Meanwhile, thousands of Togolese fled to neighboring Ghana and Benin.

But the LWF general secretary told the news conference that he sensed the
various parties were now willing to move forward. "For the first time I
was able to hear from a representative of the Togolese government that
there are problems in the country," he said, referring to his meeting with
Prime Minister Edem Kodjo.

"In the past we were told there were no problems. This is a step toward
opening up dialogue at the national level." He stressed "the culture of
political denial of existing problems needs to be broken in Africa," and
commended Kodjo and others who "are beginning to take that step."

While the delegation was presenting its report, President Gnassingbe and
exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio were meeting in Rome where they
agreed to condemn and stop violence back home.

"This meeting between President Gnassingbe and Gilchrist Olympio in Rome
is most welcome," Noko said. "It confirms our reading of the situation
that Togolese political leaders, civil society, and religious communities
are ready to work together for a peaceful Togo."

The delegation said it had seen at first hand the plight of Togolese
refugees outside the country's borders, and heard reports from some
religious leaders that human rights abuses were continuing.

"On the basis of what we heard, the Prime Minister said that the government is ready to provide security, resettlement and amnesty for those refugees
who come back," Noko observed. "He also said the government was committed
to the protection of human rights under the [African Union's] African
Charter [on Human and Peoples' Rights]."

The delegation said Africa needed "transparency, good governance, respect
for human rights, the rule of law, social justice, and gender equality"
and to have leaders "who are accountable, not to outsiders, but truly
accountable to their own people."

In its findings, the inter-faith delegation headed by Noko encouraged
religious groups to promote a healing process for peace and reconciliation, noting that healing had a spiritual dimension.

"You can never reconcile people unless you tell the truth," Noko said.
"You need the truth to be told. But you need reconciliation, and for that
you need forgiveness. That is where religious communities have a role," he
concluded. (568 words)

(By Stephen Brown, Ecumenical News International editor, who accompanied
the IFAPA delegation to Togo at LWF's invitation.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a total membership of nearly 66 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in
areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations,
theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the
various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is
located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless
specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or
opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an
article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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