Sheikh Rashid Omar, left, and Cardinal John Onaiyekan at the religious leaders’ peace and security conference in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 23, 2018. (RNS photo by Fredrick Nzwili)
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) – As violence-torn Africa grows weary of solutions that haven’t worked, Nigerian Cardinal John Onaiyekan is proposing a controversial alternative: Negotiate with terrorists.
Onaiyekan, the archbishop of Abuja, has been backing talks with Boko Haram, the violent Islamist militant group operating in the northern parts of the country. Negotiating with terrorists is vehemently opposed by governments in Africa and around the world due to concerns that concessions could inspire more attacks.
Speaking at a recent Nairobi conference of religious leaders from Africa, Europe and Asia, Onaiyekan insisted interfaith dialogue is key to ending the deadly conflicts — even if it means sitting down with ruthless killers.
“My position is no matter how extremist a person is, there must be somebody who can talk to them and others,” Onaiyekan said. “Then eventually talking will start taking place. That will be an easier way of handling grievances than guns.”
Governments in the region have responded militarily to terror threats, but Onaiyekan said it’s time for a new approach.
“Let us admit that nobody does anything for nothing,” he said, “and there ought to be a forum where people can … explain why.”
In these dark times, surrounded by death and destruction in Gaza, we hear the command in the first reading, “Choose life.” What are the ways we can do this in a world that seems to have gone mad?
On July 31, Pope Leo XIV announced that St. John Henry Newman, English theologian, educator, and writer who converted to Catholicism after being an Anglican priest, will be named a Doctor of the Church.
The chair of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace put out a statement on July 31 demanding more humanitarian action for those in Gaza.
