Church moves to resolve African conflicts

Dakar, Senegal - The President of the Episcopal Conference of Senegal, Archbishop Theodore Adrien Sarr, said in Dakar Monday that the Church in Africa plans a meeting for April in Accra, Ghana to formulate a peace plan on the conflict along the Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone border.
Speaking on the eve of the sub-regional seminar of the Catholic Church on "Reconciliation and Charity in the sub- region," the prelate said the Accra meeting is expected to map out a formula to help people displaced by the conflict involving the three Mano River Union member countries.

The five-day sub-regional seminar grouping the seven Senegalese dioceses, as well as those of Mauritania, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, opens in Dakar Tuesday, under three sub-themes "Reintegration of Displaced Persons," "Reconciliation of the Minds and of the Heart," and "Education for peace."

"We would like to help alleviate the suffering. And to achieve that goal we will, during our meeting, delve into the causes of the conflicts so as to try to come up with proposals on resolving them," declared Mgr Sarr, the Archbishop of Dakar.

He said the African Regional Episcopal Conference (CERZO), with headquarters in Burkina Faso, and the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa (AECAWA) based in Accra, were working on the peace plan.

The seminar would also discuss the crisis in Casamance, Southern Senegal, with a view to making concrete proposals on short and long-term solutions.

The prelate reiterated his disapproval of the involvement of Father Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, leader of the Movement for Democratic Forces of Casamance, in the rebellion.

"We have already told him so. Despite that, I believe like the government, that his presence can help in efforts to find a solution to this crisis, which has been going on for too long," the Archbishop concluded.

Copyright =A9 2001 Panafrican News Agency. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).