West African monks have mentioned their response to regional violence at a convention in Guinea Bissau. Supply: The Pill.
The tenth Convention of the Regional Union of West African Clergymen, which concluded on June 9, addressed the theme “The prophetic function of monks within the face of intolerance and ethnic-religious instrumentalisation in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
Attendees mentioned the causes, impacts and attainable options to the civil wars, religiously motivated terrorism, separatist insurgencies, navy coups and communal strife afflicting a number of states the place the Church has a significant social function.
Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown, Sierra Leone, instructed members that the theme was related “as a result of our West African sub-region is witnessing a surge of conflicts of varied sorts, together with these of ethnic and spiritual nature”.
“In such a state of affairs, we monks have a significant function in spearheading battle decision and reconciliation as a result of we’re ordained to be ministers of a Church established by Jesus Christ to be a sacrament of union with God and of unity of all women and men.”
He mentioned he hoped the collaborating monks would “deal with this problem to the credibility of our Church as a sacrament of union with God and of unity of all women and men”.
The archbishop mentioned colonialism was among the many central causes of continued battle, accusing Western powers of partitioning Africa “with none regard for the ethnic and conventional consistencies of the continent”.
He mentioned colonial powers “dumped collectively” areas that have been beforehand autonomous kingdoms and political entities, and known as them nation-states.
Consequently, many African nations emerged as amalgamations of tribes and kingdoms, missing inherent unity. This historic legacy nonetheless influences the area right this moment, mirrored within the prevalence of political events rooted in tribal and ethnic identities.
Fr Peter Konteh, the manager director of Caritas Freetown mentioned that to handle the roots of battle, monks wanted to face firmly on the facet of reality and keep away from partisanship.
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Clergymen talk about response to unfold of violence in West Africa (By Ngala Killian Chimtom, The Pill)
