CPTnet
26 September 2005

CHICAGO/TORONTO: CPT to send exploratory delegation to Africa's Great Lakes
region in October

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is sending an exploratory delegation to
Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Uganda, 7 October-26
November 2005. The delegation will gather information regarding the
conflicts in the Great Lakes region of eastern Africa from local peacemaking
organizations. Delegates will also discuss with local peacemakers how CPT
might support their efforts.

Over 7-10 October, delegation members will participate in a meeting of the
Quaker Prevention Network(QPN) in Burundi. The gathering will serve as an
opportunity for the team to discuss peacemaking strategies with Quakers
involved with violence prevention in the Great Lakes region.

The delegation will then travel to the DRC. With the help of MIBOS
international, a group of evangelical pastors doing peace work, and the
Friends Meeting of the DRC, they will meet with a variety of local actors
in the conflict to gain an understanding of the work that Congolese people
are doing to promote peace. The delegation will then travel north to an area
mired in an ongoing resource-driven conflict that involves many foreign
actors (e.g., Barrick Gold Inc., a Canadian company with former President
Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney on its international
advisory board.)

The trip will conclude in Uganda, site of the continuing conflict between
the government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA.) Violence
directed against the Acholi people of the region forces them to reside in
refugee camps or commute into cities to sleep at night. The LRA has
targeted children in particular for abductions. Uganda's government is a
regional ally of the United States and justifies violence against the
Acholi by framing the conflict as part of the U.S. "War on Terror."

CPTers participating in the African Great Lakes Region exploratory
delegation are Maia and Cal Williams-Carpenter (Chicago, IL), Eric Schiller
(Ottawa, ON) and Kathleen Kern (Rochester, NY.)