Five of our Peacemakers in Action gather in Nigeria this week to call on the country to hold fair, peaceful and respectful elections and to urge religious leaders to avert conflict in their country. They’ll be sending us dispatches. Here’s the most recent update, from Pakistani Peacemaker Azhar Hussain:
Yehezkel and I arrived in Abuja airport together, Pastor James met us on the immigration line, we made our way to the hotel without my suitcase which will arrive tomorrow night…so I bought some traditional Nigerian men’s dress. We left the hotel at 6:30 in the morning for a media interview and were interviewed by the Nigerian TV morning show. We then went to the Nigerian agency, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).
The IPCR seminar was well attended and we spoke about how religion is often used for political purposes and utlized as a tool for creating fear that can lead to violent conflicts. The Q and A session lasted for almost an hour and many participants stayed after the session and talked to us. We visted the French Embassy in the evening and met with the ambassador. Overall a good day!