African Peacemakers Encounter

Thirteen Africans and others interested in peace on that continent met on April 4, 1997 at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Arlington, Virginia, and on April 5, at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. Ten countries, including Burundi, the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, were represented by a diverse group of students and faculty from Duquesne University, Eastern Mennonite University, and George Mason University.

Presentations were made about each university's Conflict Resolution/Conflict Transformation Program, and African Peacemakers shared specifics about ongoing conflicts in their home countries and efforts underway to bring about peace. Two Catholic activist-educators--Sister Maura Browne, Executive Director of the Africa Faith and Justice Network, and attorney Terence Miller, Director of the Maryknoll Justice and Peace Office in Washington, D.C.--presented summaries of their organizations' work on African issues.

Discussion followed each presentation. A number of issues and concerns were raised including: 1) the need to ensure participation of African nationals in formulatation and subsequent "ownership" of documents on African issues which inform policy-makers in the United States; 2) tension between those holding that justice is a necessary prerequisite for true peace and those who prioritize peace above justice in the Conflict Resolution field--consensus in this group was that the two are inextricably linked; 3) tension between those whose peace-building work is informed by a spiritual sense of "calling" and those doing conflict resolution work from a secular perspective; 4) tension between those believing that any interest in Africa from the U.S. (especially on the part of Track One leaders and the media) is a positive step and those who believe that any program for Africa funded and/or initiated by non-Africans must meet the complex criterion of being culturally appropriate to the people it is trying to reach; and 5) realization that Africa is a huge and vastly diverse continent which requires more than one model of appropriate peacemaking techniques.

There was agreement on a number of points, e.g., on the significant influence of colonialism across the continent; on the negative impact of the Western political-economic model imposed on many African countries since independence; and on the need for more contacts and sharing of resources among peace builders within Africa as well as between Africans and non-Africans.

The African Peacemakers Encounter ended on a high note and with the hope that contacts arising out of the weekend encounter will be sustained while the African participants are in the U.S. and after they return to their home countries. Plans were made for further contact via e-mail and for follow-up meetings, one at NCPCR in Pittsburgh in May and another later in October.