Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
24 October 2008
Kampala — An international ecumenical delegation will visit Uganda from October 27 to November 2 on behalf of World Council of Churches to express solidarity of the WCC with refugees.
The plight of people displaced by war will be the main topic of the "Living Letters" initiative. The delegation discuss with the representatives of state and civil society about the protection of refugees, with a specific focus on sexual violence and the vulnerability of children.
The delegation members will learn about peace-building in Uganda and share experiences made in their own churches in Australia, the Middle East, Asia and different regions of Africa.
The agenda of the visit includes worship and briefing on the country's situation at the Uganda Joint Christian Council, meeting with Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, minister of internal affairs and chief negotiator during the peace talks with the LRA and meeting with members of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, including its chairperson Margaret Sekaggya.
Other agendas include encounters with Anglican, Orthodox and Catholic leaders, travels north to Gulu and Pabbo Camp in the Amuru district, Katakwi, Soroti and Orungo in North-Eastern Uganda.
Each group will hold a dialogue with political, religious and cultural leaders, representatives of civil society organizations and government agencies on "Sustainable Peace in Northern Uganda: The Role of Faith communities".
There will be public hearing with non-governmental organizations, churches, community-based organizations, women, students and youth organizations at the Pope Paul VI Memorial Centre and worship in local churches and encounters with the communities.
Until 2010, several Living Letters visits take place each year throughout the world in the context of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence in order to prepare for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in 2011.
Uganda stabilised recently after decades of military dictatorship and civil war. The government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) that had infested northern Uganda for nearly two decades signed a truce in August 2006 and a permanent ceasefire in February 2008 at talks in Juba, Sudan.
According to the United Nations refugee agency UHNCR, more than half the 1.8 million internally displaced persons in the north have now returned to their villages of origin or to transit sites closer to their homes. However, some 3'000 widows and orphans have nowhere to return to following the death of family heads in the 20 year war in the north or the sale of their land by relatives, UNHCR stated.
Members of the ecumenical delegation are: Rev. Keith Briant, National Council of Churches in Australia, Mr George Hazou, Middle East Council of Churches, Jordan, Ms Mbari Kioni, All African Conference of Churches, Kenya, Ms Janejinda Pawadee, Christian Conference of Asia, Thailand,Mr Timotheus Kamaboakai, World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations, Liberia / Switzerland, Semegnish Asfaw, WCC research associate for the Decade to Overcome Violence and the coordinator of the WCC Migration and Social Justice project, Sydia Nduna.
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