Transforming Conflict in the Region
Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative
This group brings together leaders of Uganda’s six predominant denominations (Anglican, Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox, Pentecostal, & Seventh Day Adventist). Together, they effectively promote conflict transformation in Northern Uganda and the surrounding region.
Its co-founders recall efforts to unite a community of people divided by religion as a means to counter the destruction wrought during the Northern Uganda civil war, particularly against women and children. In a series of moving interviews, they share what it was like to witness children running from their village homes at night to escape kidnapping by the Lord’s Resistance Army. These leaders decided to the accompany the children to an outdoor parking lot in the center of town, sleeping alongside them in the rain and on hard ground – a move that ultimately drew international attention to what was happening in the region.
“If you don’t have protection for the children, why should you have protection for us? If our children are going to die, we are going to die with them.”
- Bishop Ochola
Archbishop John Baptist Odama and Sheik Musa Khalil of Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative in Gulu, Uganda describe protecting at-risk children with their own lives and salvaging a war-torn community.
Photos
Videos
Rt. Rev. Bishop Macleod Baker Ochola II, Founding Member of Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative
Bishop Nelson Onono Onweng, Chair of Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative
Archbishop John Baptist Odama and Sheik Musa Khalil, leaders of Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative