In the beginning, “conflict resolution” did not exist. In fact, the concept of conflict resolution came later in AFJN’s history and was met with some initial resistance. In a 1993 Board of Directors’ meeting, the chair of the Board stated that, “There appears to be a new momentum to replace “justice and peace” issues with conflict resolution approaches, but conflict resolution needs to be fully explained since it is a novelty.” The AFJN staff was tasked with exploring the subject further.
Previous to 1993, AFJN had very much been in interested in the threats to peace and in the causes of conflict on the continent of Africa. In 1985, in fact, AFJN participated in and sponsored the “Famine &War in Africa Tour,” which was organized by Churches and missionary organizations. As early as 1986, AFJN published “The Militarization of Sub-Saharan Africa”, even though most of the other early work of the network was concentrated on hunger and refugee issues.
Nevertheless, the conflict in Liberia grabbed staff’s attention from the beginning, notably because of the presence of the Society of African Missions and the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Liberia. In the spring of 1985, the 7th Action Alert of AFJN concerned the jailing of Liberian students, including future AFJN staffer, Ezekiel Pajibo. Liberia’s on again/off again war was a source of much lobbying, alert sending and demonstrating on the part of AFJN staff and members from 1985 through the fall of Charles Taylor and up to recent times as Liberia attempts to position itself to become (one of) the headquarters of the newly minted US Africa Command (AFRICOM). AFJN was considered an expert on Liberia because of the vast personal experience of Ted Hayden and Ezekiel Pajibo who were often contacted by the media and by policy makers to get analysis and information on the different evolving situations. In 1997, the office staff helped form the Interfaith Dialogue on Liberia and a Liberia Lobby Day. Several times AFJN sponsored the archbishop of Monrovia and AFJN award winner, Michael Francis, as he visited the offices of think tanks, the administration and the Congress.
Early efforts on issues of conflict resolution sprang from Africa herself as AFJN published documents from the African Bishops General Assembly in 1985, “A Call to Reconciliation and Peace.” Action Alert #1 from AFJN was a call for telegrams and phone calls to P.W. Botha, George Shultz and National Security Council chair, Robert McFarlane, demanding the release from detention of the Secretary General of the South Africa Bishops Conference. He had been critical of the apartheid government. All the attention that AFJN garnered in collaboration with other Catholic organizations resulted in the release of the detainee. AFJN continued to work with others on apartheid but not on a major level, as the Washington Office on Africa (WOA) was taking the lead on it. AFJN did organize a press briefing in late 2004 in which American Bishops called on the US to denounce apartheid and to not collaborate with the South African government. Though it was disrupted by Lyndon Larouche supporters, the briefing was the first on-the-record statements by US Bishops.
Since the late 80s, AFJN has also been active on Sudan issues, though again in mainly a secondary role. In 1988 information was sent out on Sudan of which a staff member said, “It was Marion Hughes, MM (member) who alerted AFJN to the critical situation in Sudan. The following year, AFJN was active along with the US Catholic Bishops Conference and members on the ground in Africa. In Washington, they had the ear of Sen. Mikulski’s office on Sudan issues. Bishops Macram Max Gassis and Paride Taban came to Washington several times and were hosted by AFJN. Bishop Gassis gave the keynote address at the 2004 Annual Meeting in Louisville. In the 1997 office report, congressional testimony of the Sudan Working Group (of which AFJN was an active member) states that “AFJN has worked on conflict resolution in Sudan for more than ten years.” AFJN’s excellent sources in Sudan were its Comboni and Maryknoll members.
In 1990, the staff report mentions that the office produced good material on the Horn of Africa and was consequently queried by Congress and the media. That same year, the office received material from members in then-Zaire and distributed that material to US members. From January-May 1992, according to the office report, AFJN had the ‘best updates on Zaire’ because of AFJN’s African and European contacts. Archbishop Mongsengwo was hosted in Washington several times to eloquently plead the cause of the struggling people of Zaire and later, Congo (DRC). In 1997, action alerts and a policy position on the new Kabila government were posted. The latter called for democracy, a government of inclusion, help for refugees and attention to the root causes of the conflict. After the genocide in Rwanda, AFJN encouraged its members to write to President Clinton and to the Congress for financial support for Rwandan justice and rehabilitation. Staff member Carole Collins was active in the Congo Working Group which prepared a letter to Secretary Powell and a press briefing on the Kivus. Meetings at the State Department were organized for the Spiritan fathers who had been working in Congo.
In 2000, AFJN was very active in lobbying on Angola, giving needed visibility and support to several civil society groups that came to Washington to discuss various issues of the Angolan situation, be it ending support for Jonas Savimbi, be it demanding more transparency in the management of lucrative oil contracts.
In 2001, the new Executive Director, Marcel Kitissou brought his expertise and interest in conflict resolution to AFJN. Having written and taught extensively on the subject, he developed the “Dealing with Transition and Coping with Change Project,” which was funded by several of the organizational members. Marcel chaired the Peace & Security Working Group of ADNA that met with the coordinator of the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI). He gave a briefing to the staff of the House sub-committee on conflict in West Africa. He trained students at SUNY-Oswego in mediation and in conflict resolution as well as presenting talks at Cornell University, Ithaca College, Colgate University and the Africa Studies Association. He contributed to the work of the Catholic Task Force on Africa on peace and security issues and chaired the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA) Working Group on Peace and Security. He also took part in the work of two Washington-DC wide working groups: Arms Transfer Working Group, and Foreign Military Assistance Working Group and participated in discussions organized by the Great Lakes Forum.
The Dealing with Transition and Coping with Change Project organized a summer lecture series, called "AFJN Summer Institute”, in Washington, DC on the Mano River countries at two think tanks (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Brookings Institution) and at the National Press Club. In 2004 at Cornell University, AFJN sponsored a symposium entitled Security, Reconstruction and Reconciliation: When the Wars End,” which was well attended by African scholars nation-wide. This symposium was later followed by a book published in 2007:
Muna Ndulo (ed.), Security, Reconstruction and Reconciliation: When the Wars End, University College London, 2007.
In April 2003, AFJN sponsored guest speakers on peace issues in Washington such as Sultan Somjee (he addressed three different groups at the Catholic Task Force on Africa, students and faculty at Cornell University and Utica College), Carolyn Nordstrom (for the very first Advocacy Days) who spoke on arms trafficking in Africa, and Cathy Majtenyi (AFJN correspondent who was working in Kenya) who spoke on Somali at AFJN 20th anniversary in McLean, VA and on the Horn of Africa at a peace studies conference at Ithaca College. The same year saw the beginning of a reflection and information sharing on the link between water and conflict. Marcel was one of the first in Washington to write and to speak about the issue which will become more and more important as the years advance. Marcel gave two congressional briefings on the issue. In all, AFJN gave three briefings on Capitol Hill to congressional staff on water and conflict in relation to the Dealing with Transition and Coping with Change Project.
Under Marcel’s initiative, AFJN sponsored a symposium on water issues at the Institute for African Development at Cornell University with participation of scholars in the US and Africa. Continued reflections on the topic resulted in a 2007 book:
Marcel Kitissou, Muna Ndulo, Mechthild Nagel, Margaret Grieco (eds.), The Hydro politics of Africa: a Contemporary Challenge, Cambridge Scholars Press, UK, 2007
In 2003, AFJN alerted the executive branch about the seriousness of the developments in Darfur and potential grave humanitarian consequences. Letters were sent to Colin Powell, then Secretary of State, and Condolezza Rice, then National Security Advisor to alert them about the looming generalized violence and potential humanitarian crisis. Later on, Marcel and Phil Reed participated in demonstrations in front of the Embassy of Sudan (Phil, then Chair of AFJN’s Board, was once arrested). The demonstrations stopped at the time after Colin Colin Powell qualified the Darfur situation a genocide.
The resolution of the war in northern Uganda became the principle project of AFJN in 2005 with the hiring of Michael Poffenberger and collaboration with UgandaCan. However, already in 2004 AFJN, with the Catholic Task Force on Africa (CTFA), began diffusing in Washington information from the Church in Uganda. Over the course of the year, information was published and in June of 2004, a briefing on Capitol Hill was given. During that same time, AFJN and CTFA were also bringing some of the first attention to the conflict in Darfur to a larger public as well as participating in demonstrations at the Sudanese embassy.
AFJN organizing perhaps reached its nadir with the northern Uganda campaign of 2005-2006. Staff very successfully drummed up support in Washington through the use of briefings on Capitol Hill and collaborations with dynamic organizations such as Invisible Children and Gulu Walk. The preparation of the Northern Uganda Lobby Days took many hours of hard work by staff and interns, but by October 2006, seven hundred mainly young activists came to Washington to learn more about the situation in northern Uganda from policy makers and Ugandan witnesses. At least four hundred of those people stormed Capitol Hill the next day creating quite a sensation with their brightly colored t-shirts and their focused message. The event was a huge source of information and publicity about AFJN. Many new readers signed up for the AFJN website and donations and new memberships were recorded in large numbers. Like many other successful AFJN projects, this one grew, in part, out of a staff member’s (Michael Poffenberger’s) experience in northern Uganda before coming to AFJN and out of his continuing contacts on the ground. Bishop John Baptist Odama came to the Annual Meeting in 2006 and received the AFJN Award for his peace making efforts in his country. When Michael left to form Resolve Uganda, the leadership of the campaign went with him and AFJN moved on, having helped birth a new coalition.
Recently, much staff time has been spent on organizing around the crying needs in Congo. AFJN has many members in the Congo. At the same time, it was determined to be an area of Africa that does not get a fair amount of attention considering the seriousness of the problems it faces. The Executive Director in 2005, Rev. Bill Dyer, began this new emphasis on Congo. Present Executive Director, Rev. Rocco Puopolo, is on the executive committee of Congo Global Action, a new coalition of which AFJN is the fiscal sponsor. At this time, an office and website have been set up and preparations are being made for a lobby day similar to the one held on the northern Uganda issue.
Finally, a mention must be made of two new areas of work. The first is the recent engagement of AFJN staff in research and advocacy on the newly founded Africa Command (AFRICOM). The Board of Directors has made monitoring this entity a priority of AFJN for the next couple of years. Informational articles have been written both in the newsletter and on the web and a new coalition has formed in Washington of which AFJN is a major player. Secondly, AFJN is helping to gather people interested in advocacy on restorative justice. This has grown out of discussions at the ADNA meetings and a resolution has been put forth to Representative Donald Payne on the Africa Subcommittee.
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