Towards A United Front In Tackling Religious Extremism On The Church In Eastern Africa
Adopted by leaders of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA) National Evangelical Alliances of Eastern Africa at its regional meeting held in Kigali Rwanda on 18 January 2023 based on the theme: Towards a United Front: Tackling Religious Extremism on the Church and Missions. The meeting convened leaders from Burundi, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republicof Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Understanding our call as Christians to speak, watch and champion for the rights of all people regardless of their confessions, faith and race.
Noting that notwithstanding our call to love, Christians continue to face violence and threats of violence in East Africa with little or no protection from some governments in East Africa.
Implore state and non-state actors to develop strategies that will ensure the peace and security of all citizens in the horn of East Africa.
Together, strongly condemn recent attacks, including those against churches that threaten the peaceful existence of faith groups in Africa – especially in contexts where some religions are minorities.
We deplore the recent bomb attack by Islamic State groups targeting a Pentecostal church in Kasindi, east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which left 17 dead and 39 injured, and the failure of government authorities to provide security around places of worship in the volatile region.
Express our newly forged unity of purpose, within our evangelical structures, to act decisively for the right to life, for social cohesion, and for religious liberty in East Africa.
We have resolved to UNITE.
We call on all governments in the East Africa Region to embrace Freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and seek to protect all its citizens from acts of religious extremism that continue to destabilize the region.
We call on governments to cease harassment, arrest and deportation of those working in the ecclesiastical field in some EA nations.
We call on the Kenyan government to address increasing cases of IED’s targeting Kenyans and security agencies in the North and Coastal regions of Kenya.
Freedom of expression does not allow for the media to incite inter-religious hatred often leading to negative perceptions of Christians as intruders and a threat to national security and stability.
We call on the government of Sudan to allow Christian Cultural Centers and Christian libraries to reopen and to allow for the importation of Bibles and other Christian literature.
Kigali Declaration 18 January 2023.
Issued by East Africa Evangelical Alliances in Kigali, on the 18th of January 2023.
