Adelaide Khavugwi
The Secretary General of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) has called on Justice and Peace Coordinators from the member nations to find sustainable solution to the crises in different nations within the region.Group Photo of the participants together
with AMECEA Secretary General
Fr. Anthony Makunde who was speaking at a meeting for the AMECEA Justice and Peace Coordinators in Nairobi, Kenya called for “special prayers” for an end to the violence in the countries.
“The unrest and conflicts ongoing and loss of lives, are a reason to wake up and create sustainable conflict resolutions that will help in bringing peace amongst the people and the entire region,” Fr. Makunde said Tuesday, November 30 during the meeting at Donum Dei.
“We call ourselves brothers and sisters because of one Baptism, one father, one Lord and one faith. We need to look into the future with hope, determined that the Lord is with us and that we are able to change the current situation. We are the ones to make the change,” he said.
The Secretary General called for concerted efforts to address the multiple crises in the AMECEA region saying, “We all need to come together and unite for one cause that is peace.”
Highlighting the unrests in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia he added, “We cannot lay low and watch all that is happening around the globe.”
Fr. Makunde also called for dialogue to address to the ongoing unrests in the region.
“We need to find alternatives and appeal to go back to a table of discussion,” he said.
“There is need to act for the good of humanity, be it involving the church and the rest of the bodies for peace and reconciliation, within the region and the global world,” he said.
Fr. Makunde who was giving his opening speech at a meeting for members of the Department of Integral Human Development (DIHD) across the AMECEA region emphasized the need for special prayers.
“We need to special prayers, prayers for the change of mentality. Pray for a change of mentality and conversion of hearts,” he said and added that Church officials need to be involved in advocacy programmes.
Speaking at the same event, Mary Kang’ethe, the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO (KNATCOM), emphasized on the need for education and peace building and the role of Catholic Education Commissions and schools in peace building.
She said that education provides a major opportunity for promoting peace and impacting the requisite knowledge, skills and values in peace building. The need to have opportunities to engage on diversity and hold difficult conversations related to peace, model peace related values and the general attitudes of people.
“We are living in a world where we all want to have peace; we need to look after the Mother Nature. In this, let us not forget that peace is the highest religion and the highest glory to human dignity,” said Ms. Kang’ethe.