| India – “God’s Rapid Response Team” |
| RMG – The Nobel Peace Prize for Archbishop Menamparampil? Why not? |
| India – Ready for the new challenges of the missions |
For several months there had a spiralling of violence between the neighbouring tribes of the Rabha and Garo, on the boundaries of the Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya. Some seizures of land had led to acts of vandalism, damage to houses and crops, killing of cattle, which was in danger of turning into armed conflict. The intervention of the Peace Team prevented civil war.
“First of all it was necessary to work to reduce the anger and resentment felt in the various communities; then we tried to get them to adopt methods of helping to re-establish mutual trust,” Archbishop Menamparampil explained to Fides. He then organised meetings with the leaders of the two groups. Thanks to the effective collaboration of other Christian groups such as the Baptists, he managed to get the leaders of the communities to give up their antagonistic attitudes and to re-establish peaceful co-existence providing practical help for both groups: assistance with compensation for damage suffered and the return of families who had fled on account of the tension.
Contributing to the success was the experience of the archbishop esteemed by all the tribal leaders, and who in the past on at least six other occasions of local conflicts had managed to achieve a peaceful solution.
An effective step towards reconciliation in the whole region was taken on 24 February when a considerable number of civil organisations in the North East arranged a large “Peace Initiative” in which over a thousand people from various tribal groups took part. On this occasion the local authorities pledged to ensure the safe return of all those displaced as a result of the conflicts in the region. Help for the families concerned will be monitored by the local priests from Guwahati and Tura, entrusted with providing them with assistance.
Published 02/03/2011
