An interreligious colloquium on the theme “Religions and identities in a weakened world” opened yesterday in Dakar. Indeed, from November 29 to 30, the religious community will advocate for the maintenance of peace and social cohesion in West Africa, and in the world in general.
They come from various nationalities, with differences of faith, and have agreed to meet in Dakar. Indeed, an interreligious conference opened yesterday in the Senegalese capital. It is organized by the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation, with the Senegalese Association for Decentralized Cooperation and the Think-Tank Timbuktu Institute. For this 14th edition, the religious community will focus on “Religion and identities in a weakened world”.
Through this theme, it will be a question of making a powerful plea for a religious approach to conflicts, in order to reflect on the mediations and preventions of violent extremism. According to the resident representative of the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Caroline Hauptmann, the focus will be on maintaining peace and social cohesion through the support of religious communities.
However, she clarified that there will not be a specific theme on terrorism. Because, says the country resident representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the theme of this 14th colloquium is purely social, namely: “religion” and “identity”. But, argues Ms. Hauptmann, anything of value and supposed to bring stability in social cohesion is welcome. “We are in a world and also in a West African sub-region marked by conflict situations. In the debates, it will be question of security and instability noted in the countries of the sub-region and peripheries of Senegal. I think it’s a relevant topic that needs to be discussed. At this level, religious communities are of great importance for reflecting on the prevention of violent extremism and on mediation”, suggested the country resident representative of Konrad Adenauer who adds that the identity withdrawals which can go as far as to extremism, by exploiting religions and ethnic groups, will be studied during this 14th Colloquium on interreligious dialogue, for advocacy on religions in relation to identities.
Chairing the symposium, the Director of the promotion of territorial development at the Ministry of Territorial Communities, who came to represent his minister, assured that the State pays particular attention to the conclusions of this symposium. They will be taken into account in the high decisions of this country, added Mbagnick Diouf. “We make a lot of confusion doing the resource analysis. Because, in this analysis, we take into account the economic and political angle while obscuring the social one, in particular the cultural and religious one. The conclusions of this symposium will be of great benefit to the State of Senegal. Economically, culturally and socially, the conclusions of this symposium will be a great contribution to the stability of the entire sub-region”, explained Mbagnick Diouf.
ISRAEL IS INSPIRED BY SENEGAL’S INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE MODEL
A strong Israeli religious community is taking part in the interreligious colloquium which has opened in Dakar. In this delegation, there is the spiritual leader of the Druze community of Israel, Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif. He is, for the first time, visiting sub-Saharan Africa. The idea for the Israeli Ambassador to Senegal, Ben Bourgel, is to be able to bring the Israeli perspective. “This symposium offers the possibility to the Israeli delegation to meet the Senegalese interlocutors and to discuss with them and to soak up the values of religious tolerance which mark Senegal. The main example that Senegal brings us, beyond cohesion, is the possibility of dialogue between the different actors of faith on the subjects on which they agree and on the others on which they do not agree. OK. Our delegation immerses itself and learns a lot”, indicated Mr. Bourgel.