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From Fides ServiceOct. 21, 2009
In the Seminar Reconciliation, Justice, and Peace in Africa,
being held in Rome during the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of
Bishops promoted by the “Giuseppe Toniolo” Institute for the International Law
for Peace and the Catholic Action International Forum, Bishop Giorgio Biguzzi of
Makeni, President of the Bishops' Conference of Sierra Leone and Gambia,
described the experience of the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation in
Sierra Leone and the contribution of the Church to the peace process.
The Bishop of Makeni recalled how the Interreligious Council of Sierra Leone
(including Catholics, Muslims, Anglicans, and Methodists) intervened in talks
with RUF (United Revolutionary Front) rebels after they had attacked the capital
city of Freetown on January 6, 1999. After two years in Togo, finally in 2001,
an accord was signed that brought peace back to Sierra Leone. The intervention
of the association of religious leaders was made possible by the fact that the
local population is very religious and the Interreligious Council was considered
by all to be impartial in the matter.
During the conflict in Sierra Leone, horrendous crimes were committed, not only
by the RUF rebels (infamous for their mutilation of victims and recruiting of
child soldiers), but also by other parties engaged in the war. Following the
example of South Africa and several Latin American countries, the Commission for
Truth and Reconciliation was founded.
The main objective of the Commission, Bishop Biguzzi says, is that of
establishing the truth about crimes and researching the causes of the war. This
is why testimonies have been gathered from across the country. The results of
this study showed that the main causes of the war were not religious, tribal, or
ethnic, but social and economic. The corruption and bad government of the 1980s
had angered the local people, who had normally been a peaceful people, making
way for the terrible explosion of violence in the 1990s.
From the audiences of the Commission, the people of Sierra Leone have learned
that in war there are no winners. Everyone loses. It is not that one side is bad
and the other good, but all have their responsibility. Even your enemy has a
piece of the truth. But the main lesson of the Commission, the Bishop concluded,
is the value of forgiveness, which has a freeing effect on the victim himself,
whose heart is no longer eroded by hate and a thirst for revenge.
