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Peace-building workshop opens doors in conflict-torn Ethiopia

GAMBELA, Ethiopia — Last September Amanuel Sigebo, a 35-year-old Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) evangelist, brought his conflict resolution training home. Twenty months earlier he had desperately phoned contacts in the capital city of Addis Ababa, pleading for help. Ethnic tensions in his region on the Sudan border had erupted into a one-day massacre in the city and ongoing violence in the countryside.

Over time, the situation stabilized, but there was still widespread distrust and fear - the seeds of future violence - and Christians recognized that they were not exempt from this threat.

In response, leaders from the Mennonite Mission in Ethiopia, a joint effort of Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), recommended Amanuel for an MCC scholarship to the Africa Peace Institute, hoping that the six-week training in May and June 2005 would give him tools to address the everyday tensions in his home region.

In partnership with the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia (ECFE), Mennonite Mission in Ethiopia helped to fund a conflict resolution workshop in Gambela September 1-4.

Amanuel facilitated the four-day workshop with three colleagues from other parts of the country: fellow Africa Peace Institute participant Temesgen Nagosh of Jimma; Mekonnen Dessalegn, MCC programs coordinator, of Addis Ababa; and Sileshi Kebede, assistant general secretary of ECFE, of Addis Ababa.

Participants included 24 government workers from Orthodox, Muslim, Catholic, and evangelical backgrounds, an army officer, an official from the Ministry of Justice, a representative of the ruling party, and 60 church leaders from 10 different ethnic and language groups.

The four trainers were conscientious about reaching out to each participant, and about using biblical examples with sensitivity to the different groups present.

At the conclusion, an Orthodox priest expressed his appreciation, saying, "There are many ways we can learn from scripture." A Muslim participant confessed that he had expected to feel alienated but had instead felt a common basis for working together for peace. The army officer said the workshop broadened his exposure to different points of view, including the "shalom" sense of peace, encompassing health, nature, and relationships with family, neighbors, and the world.

The group recommended that future events focus on youth, whose feelings of distrust often run even deeper than those of their parents. One church leader said that when a colleague from a different ethnic group came to his door one day, his small son (who was playing in the yard) ran inside the house, terrified and said, "Someone has come to kill us!"

This is the legacy of the Gambela conflict, and one the churches hope to address in ongoing peace work.

Amanuel is in demand from other organizations as he blends his recent peace training with his work as an MKC evangelist. Church leaders express appreciation to Mennonites in North America for helping to fund the Gambela workshop, as well as making possible the ongoing presence of peacemaker-preacher Amanuel Sigebo in his home community.