Hope out of suffering: Philippe Lasserre keeps a diary of the `Peace-building initiatives' conference in Caux. (Caux conferences 2002).

Sunday 4 August

Nearly 500 people have converged for the `Peace-building initiatives' conference in Caux organized by Agenda for Reconciliation.

During the opening meeting microphones are passed to those who want to share their expectations of this event. Two Palestinians are first on their feet to express their desire for peace. A man from Sierra Leone wants to share with `comrades who are plunged into similar situations' his country's recent experience of building peace. A leader of a country which is dealing with an incipient civil war expresses his wish `to meet my enemy'.

A Lebanese suggests: `Like Gulliver we are tied by invisible bonds which leave us powerless. At Caux we are offered moral principles, reference points. These help us to identify the weaknesses which prevent us from being a force for good, to break the bonds and put right what needs to be put right.'

Monday 5 August

Men and women who want to advance the cause of peace in their regions have come from Angola, Sierra Leone and the Great Lakes region of Africa (Congo, Rwanda, Burundi).

An Angolan reveals his state of mind at this early stage of the conference: `We try to solve the world's problems without listening to other people's points of view. Here we listen to the other person's viewpoint and try to take it into consideration.'

We spend an afternoon with four Lebanese, two Christians and two Muslims. They show us a film, in which two of them, having belonged to opposing militias in their country's civil war, tell of their apologies to those on the other side for their wartime atrocities. They also speak of their commitment to reconciliation and reconstruction. We understand--the road to peace is staked out by individual decisions. The creators of peace are often those who have suffered the most, or who have taken part in the worst atrocities, then had a change of heart.

Tuesday 6 August

Today's theme is: `Answering anger, mistrust and fear'. A Sudanese woman and a Palestinian woman speak, and the contrast between their serenity and the suffering which is revealed by their stories is striking. Angelina, wife of one of the South Sudanese guerrilla leaders, recounts her struggle to survive. In 19 years of marriage, she has only spent ten months with her husband. She describes her compatriots' fight in South Sudan, where the discovery of oil has inflamed the situation and increased the divisions. For her, the role of women in conflicts is crucial: they tackle the roots of war. She speaks of the challenge of raising her four children `without sowing the seeds of hatred in their hearts'.

A Rwandan follows. Richard Batsidunka has emigrated to Canada. He speaks of the `apprenticeship of copying violence'. In every conflict situation, the copycat phenomenon is basic to violence: you repay evil with evil `with extra interest'. It is this escalation of violence, empty of any creativity, which blocks peace.

This is also the day of the public lecture by Aaron Lazare, psychiatrist and Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His subject is `the power of apology'. For him, the greatest problems are those that wound human dignity. To offer and to accept an apology is for him `one of the deepest interactions that can take place between civilized people. To escape the vicious circle of rancour and vengeance, apologies are the only cure for humiliation.'

Lazare welcomes the fact that our age, more than previous ones, understands the importance of apologies between nations and groups.

Wednesday 7 August

A dignified figure in his robes, the Emir of Kano, one of the traditional Muslim leaders of Nigeria, introduces the day's theme: `Partnership between Muslim and Western cultures'. For him it is a question of each side casting off the prejudices which burden us and blowing away `this cloud of insecurity which hovers above us'.

For Bryan Hamlin from Boston, USA, the achievement of such a partnership demands an overall approach, which draws on the resources of head and heart: `The spirit of Caux is an essential ingredient of that partnership. It needs to happen at a sufficiently deep level. We are all, both as individuals and countries, a mix of the saint and the scoundrel.'

Individuals and societies need `the gift that Caux gives us of self-examination', he continues. `Self-examination strengthens an individual. The same is true of societies. Societies that are open, allow dissent, and do not persecute religious minorities, flourish. Societies that repress dissent and persecute religious minorities will ultimately fail.'

He appeals for people to be patient with the United States. Besides statements like, `Who is not with us is against us,' can be set Abraham Lincoln's: `With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.'

Thursday 8 August

Powerfully emotional moments during a plenary session on `courage'. Francisco Ngongo, an Angolan refugee in the Congo studying in England, speaks of his country where 25 years of war have `prevented the nation from enjoying its rights to security and dignity in the image of divine creation'. Since being a refugee as a child in Katanga, he has known `pain, sadness, shame and hatred'. He is ashamed to call his country `independent' when that means nothing but `war, destruction and increased poverty'. At the age of 12 he found new hope as he discovered non-violence. To make this hope a reality he had to `stand up to help and encourage his compatriots'. He founded a refugee students association to prepare themselves for their return to their country.

Of Pushtun origins, American by birth, Anila Daulatzai tells of her commitment to Afghan refugees in Pakistan and in Afghanistan itself. Since her most recent visit there last year, `not one day has gone by that I have not thought about Afghanistan and that part of the world. The Afghan refugees' harsh lives and their intimate relationship with death, poverty and struggle have created and allowed space for hope and justice to germinate. So when I am asked where do I get my courage, I feel that I don't have courage of my own. I have borrowed it from the women and children in Afghanistan. The refugees who give me hope and give me strength live in material poverty but abound in spiritual wealth. They know what it means to be alive, they struggle, they endure and then still are generous enough to give hope and courage to others like myself.'

Friday 9 August

It is the day that we ask ourselves what lessons are to be learned from our efforts to bring peace. An Australian, Alan Weeks, refers to the settling of the bloody conflict in Bougainville, after the Papua New Guinean island seceded. He emphasizes that being a peacemaker means a life of committed effort, of sensitivity to the other person, of searching in silence for a higher will.

Cardinal Frederic Etsou Nsabi Bamungwabi, Archbishop of Kinshasa and Chairman of the National Council of Bishops, who is taking part in the `Great Lakes Round Table', reminds us that `the Congo has been through blood and fire. The Congolese people have plumbed unimaginable depths of suffering.' He condemns `the unbridled attachment to power of too many politicians' and `the external forces' who also do not care about the good of the people.

`Reconciliation cannot be a mere ritual between politicians,' he continues. `It is of the people that the instigators of war and violence must ask forgiveness and it is from them that all political authority must derive its legitimacy,' he declares. `Caux brings people to meet each other because one has to begin with love. When you love each other, you accept each other and want to work together. For that you have first to look into your own heart.'

Saturday 10 August

The last day already! We are no longer the same. Shared experiences and talks, workshops, discussion groups, meals and work together have made us more vulnerable, more honest, closer.

During the closing session we hear a representative of each of the three African groups who have had separate meetings: Angola, Sierra Leone and the Great Lakes region. Each expresses their appreciation for what Caux is doing to support the efforts for peace and reconciliation in their countries. Chief Samuel Norman, Sierra Leone's Minister of the Interior, who has publicly embraced his opponent, former President Johnny Paul Koroma, describes the progress made during the week.

Moise Nyarugabo, a leader of the Congolese Rally for Democracy, one of the resistance groups, says: `The participants in the Great Lakes Round Table have drawn up a balance sheet of the situation on the ground: war, death, hatred, poverty, distrust and despair. A dark picture, due to the exclusion and rejection of the other side, to bad laws and bad government.

`After discussion and mutual accusations, we realized that there are no good and bad peoples but that there are extremists and moderates everywhere. We have undertaken:

1) to listen to each other;

2) to begin by seeing our own mistakes, weaknesses and limitations before considering those of the other side;

3) to become builders of peace and reconciliation in our own camp, to influence our parties, our government and our armed groups to pave the way for sincere dialogue.'

He then reminds us of the image that `when I point my finger at my neighbour there are three more pointing back at me'. `For me that means that if my enemy has a step forward to take, I have three.'

The conclusion of an astounding week. It is as if the spirit of Caux (or should one simply say the Spirit?) has touched each one of us through all the detailed arrangements put in place for the smooth running of the conference.

This article was translated from French by Robin Evans.