07.04.2004
Rwanda: LWF General Secretary Denounces the Silence that Permits Genocide
Permanent Challenge to Complacency of Religious Leaders WorldwideGENEVA, 7 April 2004 (LWI) – As Rwanda commemorates ten years since the 1994 genocide, the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko has appealed for an end to the silence and inaction that permits genocide and social cleansing in any part of the world.
“Silence and inaction on the part of the international community as a whole, allowed the genocide in Rwanda to occur,” Noko says in a letter today to Rwandan President Paul Kagame. He notes that the killings in that country a decade ago continue to be a powerful indictment against a global community that “after the Second World War, had sworn genocide would never be allowed to occur again.”
The LWF general secretary says it is particularly painful to reflect on the role played by religious leaders in fomenting and carrying out the killings in Rwanda a decade ago. The genocide history, he said, “should be a permanent challenge to the complacency of religious leaders in all regions of the world.”
The LWF general secretary writes to Kagame also in his capacity as the convenor of the October 2002 Inter-Faith Peace Summit in Africa, a continent-wide forum of religious leaders and networks pursuing practical inter-faith action for peace on the continent. “The challenge and the indictment of what happened in Rwanda ten years ago must be taken by all those who participate in this process or who share its objectives as one of the foundations of our commitment,” Noko says.
It is Noko’s prayer that healing, reconciliation and peace prevail in Rwanda, and that the world would “never again respond to genocide with silence and inaction.”
An estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 100 days during the 1994 genocide. (307 words)
The full text of LWF General Secretary Noko’s letter to President Kagame follows:
H.E. Paul Kagame
President
Republic of Rwanda
7 April 2004
Your Excellency,
On this day, people of conscience around the world join with the people of Rwanda in marking the tenth anniversary of the commencement of the genocide in your country. Though they occurred a decade ago, those events still seem fresh with pain and guilt. They continue to burden the memories and dreams of all Rwandans. They also continue to be a powerful indictment against an international community that, after the Second World War, had sworn genocide would never be allowed to occur again. The history of your country, and particularly the events of ten years ago, carry an inexpressibly deep significance for the whole world.
The Lutheran World Federation, a worldwide federation of Christian churches of the Lutheran tradition, joins with many other religious communities around the world in remembering the victims of the Rwandan genocide, and in praying for peace and reconciliation in your country and in our world. The killing of neighbor by neighbor offends the most basic religious and moral teachings. And so it is particularly painful to reflect on the role played by religious leaders in fomenting and carrying out the genocide in Rwanda. This history should be a permanent challenge to the complacency of religious leaders in all regions of the world.
Silence and inaction, on the part of the international community as a whole, allowed the genocide in Rwanda to occur. Silence and inaction continues to give tacit permission to killings and ethnic and other forms of 'social cleansing' in different regions of the world today. In its tragedy, Rwanda presented a shocking insight into the depths of human cruelty and brutality. In the commemoration of that tragedy, Rwanda demands of the international community an end to the silence and inaction that permits genocide and social cleansing in any part of the world. And in pursuing the path of reconciliation, I pray that Rwanda will yet be an example for the world to follow.
In Johannesburg in October 2002, the Lutheran World Federation had the privilege of facilitating the first continent-wide summit of African religious leaders on the topic of inter-faith dialogue and cooperation for peace in Africa. This event brought together more than 100 religious leaders from across the continent, and from all of the major faith traditions represented in Africa. It was, among other things, an occasion for building links between existing inter-faith groups and networks working for peace in many different countries in Africa. The summit participants committed themselves to a program of practical, rather than rhetorical, inter-faith action for peace in our continent. The challenge and the indictment of what happened in Rwanda ten years ago must be taken by all those who participate in this process or who share its objectives as one of the foundations of our commitment.
I write to you now - on behalf of all those communities, networks and individuals participating in the 'Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa' process commenced in Johannesburg in October 2002, on behalf of the member churches of the Lutheran World Federation in all parts of the world, and on my own behalf - to assure you of our prayers on the occasion of this awful anniversary. We pray for healing, for reconciliation and for peace in Rwanda, in the African continent, and in the world. We pray that the world will never again respond to genocide with silence and inaction.
Yours most sincerely,
Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko
General Secretary
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