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Long Live Dialogue
‘The Community of St. Egidio developed a technique which was different than those of the professional peace-makers, but which was complementary to theirs. The Community let her technique of informal discretion converge with the official work of governments and of intergovernmental organisations.’ (Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former UN Secretary General)
In September 1994, during the eighth International Meeting of Prayer for Peace -which included leaders from most world religions- ‘some Algerian Muslim friends’, recalls Andrea Riccardi, the founder of St. Egidio, ‘asked why Christians, who often create movements for the defense of human rights, remain immobile when a Muslim country is involved.’ Ricardi continues, ‘It sounded like a challenge which needed to be immediately accepted immediatly.’
That year St. Egidio had been devastated by the assassinations of two of its members, who had both worked in the diocesan library in the Casbah of Algier. The Community had maintained strong relations with Algeria for a long time, particularly with the Algerian church. Groups from St. Egidio had visited Algeria every year since the early 1980s within the framework of interreligious encounters and exchanges among young people on both shores of the Mediterranean.
| ‘War is the mother of all poverty. War makes everybody poor, also the rich.’ |
Within two months after the Prayer for Peace meeting, St. Egidio organised a first colloquium on Algeria in its headquarters in Rome. Leading figures of the ferocious Algerian conflict, including the government, were invited. Many came. The government did not want to sit at a table with fundamentalists at first, but the Community persevered and talks continued. In the end, the participants asked for a further meeting to continue the talks. The ‘Platform of Rome’ had brought the fundamentalists back into the folds of legality, thus creating an environment which would lead to more democratic, stable and peaceful conditions. At that moment it seemed the first stones on the road to peace in Algeria had been laid.
The Community of St. Egidio began in 1968 when a group of students gathered in Rome to read the gospel together. In the slums outside the city, they came into contact with poor immigrants. The students got friendly with the immigrants and started helping their children to learn to read and write.
Thirty years later, this group of students has evolved into a lay movement of 15,000 people, two thirds of whom are in Italy, involved in voluntary and unpaid service for peace and reconciliation in cities of more than twenty countries all over the world. They share a certain spirituality and they measure themselves against the Gospel. Though the organisation now has a link with the Vatican, its heart is still the small church of St. Egidio in the Roman quarter, Trastevere, where every evening prayers for the Community are held.
In the last few years, the Community of St. Egidio has been discovered by the media due to its peace initiatives for Mozambique, Algeria, Guatemala and the Balkans. It also has close relations with groups from many other countries who have been suffering for years due to injustice and war - Lebanon, El Salvador, Armenia, Burundi and the Horn of Africa.
St. Egidio’s development projects were the basis of the reconciliation process in Mozambique. Over a period of fourteen years, the Community had established solid relationships and contacts with both parties of the internal conflict, Frelimo and Renamo. This ultimately led to its assumption of a central third-party intermediary role in 1990.
With these activities the Community won much praise (see Box). However, in an interview with the Washington Post, ‘founding-father’ Andrea Riccardi stated that the diplomatic activities of St. Egidio would be an exception in their work, and that their commitment to solidarity had never stopped.
‘Our mainstay remains our work with the poor. But there is no contrast or difference between solidarity with the poor and solidarity with poor peoples. War is the mother of all poverty. War makes everybody poor, also the rich.’
The Community had also taken initiatives for peace on an international level. This was in Lebanon at the beginning of the eighties. After a meeting with the political key-figure Walid Jumblatt in St. Egidio, the Community succeeded in stopping the siege of a number of Lebanese villages in the Chouf mountains. At the same time, Christians were allowed to come back to the village.
In Guatemala, the Community facilitated the peace process by organising two encounters between the then president, Ramiro De Leon Carpio, and the leaders of the guerrillas.
‘We have noticed that direct communication could conquer many obstacles during the negotiations,’ observed Riccardi. St. Egidio also invited representatives of the Sudanese conflict for discussions, which, according to Riccardi, is one of the most difficult conflicts of this time. ‘We think it is important to keep our doors open but without forcefully wanting to repeat the Mozambique model. We are of course no professional diplomats, but also no ‘dilettantes’, like a certain press has called us.’
In the last couple of years, the attention of the organisation has gone mainly to Burundi, Zaire and Eritrea. At the moment, it focuses primarily on Burundi. Along with former Tanzanian president, Julius Nyerere, and the U.S. special envoy Wolpe, it has helped to slow down the civil war. Thus, the peace process has two diplomatic ‘tracks’, one official and the other unofficial. The official diplomatic track, called the ‘Arusha process’, is facilitated by Nyerere. It brings together all Hutu and Tutsi parties to discuss major decisions.
The talks are co-ordinated with an unofficial ‘second track’ led by the Community of St. Egidio. It has attempted to arrange an agreement for suspension of hostilities between the Tutsi-led Burundian government and the principal armed rebel group, which is crucial, says U.S. envoy Wolpe, in order for a political dialogue to move forward in the official process. Government delegations and representatives of the guerrillas have visited the Community’s headquarters.
Former-Yugoslavia is an area where the Community operates with great reserve. There are already many organisations working there, in several fields. The Community does not want to cause confusion which might lead to a delay in the peace process. Thus, it has chosen to restrict itself to a project for humanitarian aid for Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Albanians in a certain region. It has also established contacts with the Serbian church. According to the Community, the rigid attitude of the Serbs is partly a result of their isolation.
| ‘The major problem of peace is to convert warring people into political creatures. ‘ |
The peace initiatives between nations are probably the most well known aspects of the Community’s work. But it also dedicates itself to reconciliation between different ‘worlds’ within society, such as the homeless, the elderly, migrants, gypsies, the sick, invalids - through its fight against poverty and exclusion.
The Community also organises an annual International meeting of Prayer for Peace. Various religious leaders take part in this. It was started in 1986, when the pope Johannes Paulus II held such a meeting. Every year, the prayers are accompanied by cultural initiatives for friendship and reconciliation between peoples. After roundtables, workshops, and prayers of different denominations, all the participants gather for a common ceremony, where they sign an appeal, light candles and observe a moment of silence. At the end, the religious leaders share a sign of peace.
Over the years, the number of participants in this event has increased. The dialogue has also become more refined: fundamental religious themes and concrete problems on peace and society are now debated, including the war in former Yugoslavia, Africa, and the arms trade.
In August 1995, the prayer meeting was held in Jerusalem. For the first time, Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders gathered at the initiative of the Community. After two days of meetings, three olive-trees were planted in the old city. In 1998, the event was hosted in Bucharest, Rumania, co-organised by the Orthodox and Catholic communities. Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and other religious groups attended the meeting. It was the first time in history that Catholic and Orthodox communities had worshipped together.
Initial informal negotiations, by Mozambican church members and
leaders of neighbouring governments, had got bogged down because
the conflicting parties could not agree on the process and location
for talks. Then the Community of St. Egidio hosted exploratory
talks that subsequently turned into formal mediation. The four
observers were asked to become intermediaries: Andrea Riccardi
of St. Egidio; Don Matteo Zuppi, a parish priest who is also a
member of the Community; Mario Raffaelli, an Italian parliamentarian,
and Jaime Goncalves, the Archbishop of Beira.
Peace for Mozambique
The talks made significant progress due to the patience and persistence
of the participants and the synergy resulting from diplomatic-juridical
negotiations coupled with practical wisdom. After two years, observers
from the United States, France, Great-Britain and Portugal were
called in, as well as the UN - implementation of the peace agreement
would need deployment of a UN peace-keeping force. A few months
later, on October 4, 1992, at the headquarters of the Community
in Rome, the Mozambique Peace Agreement was signed. The unlikely
team of peace brokers had softened the hearts of people who had
waged war for more than ten years. At the same time, it set up
a technically complicated peace process which resulted in the
holding of the first free elections in October 1994.
In the book ‘Peace is Possible’, St. Egidio leader, Andrea Riccardi
tells journalists, J.D. Durand and R. Ladous, he was caught by
surprise at the change in Mozambican people who had fought war
for all those years.
‘Why did they fight?’ he said. ‘In the first place because they
saw no alternative. And at the end they got used to the war. But
during the negotiations I witnessed the evolution of the guerrillas
who slowly changed into politicians. For me this was a big miracle.
Because although in principle nobody wants to have war, ways of
mediation are not easy to find. For that, you have to cut loose
from the logic of violence, which is anything but easy.’
In 1993, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, then Secretary General of the
United Nations commented: ‘For many years, the society worked
with utmost discretion in Mozambique in order to bring both parties
in contact with each other. It did not keep those contacts for
itself. It was very effective when it came to involving others
who could contribute to a solution. The Community let her technique
of informal discretion converge with the official work of governments
and of intergovernmental organisations. Since this experiment,
the expression ‘Italian formula’ has been coined for this unique
combination of government work and non-governmental peace efforts.
Respect for both parties in conflict and for those who work in
this area are indispensable for the success of similar initiatives.’
To the world, it was a miracle that a so-far unknown and relatively
non-influential organisation had played such a big role in this
very important peace process. But, according to Andrea Riccardi,
the Community had not become some sort of a ‘ministry of international
relations’. ‘Our moral power during the negotiations,’ he said,
‘was being the mouthpiece of the suffering insolvent populace,
sometimes the only one.’
Together with local missionaries, the Community had collected
letters and petitions for peace. Riccardi will never forget how
the leader of the Renamo delegation had found a letter from his
father amongst them. He had not seen him for more than ten years.
‘We Christians are people of the word,’ says Riccardi. ‘We don’t have a different weapon. I believe in the power of dialogue till the very last moment. It is not easy. Dialogue means a conversion towards the other person: you have to try understanding him, and at the same time help him to change his agenda.’
Feedback please to
j.verhoeven@euconflict.org