Peace is possible in Colombia despite its four decades of civil war, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Thursday, pointing to harmony achieved in South Africa after decades of racial strife under apartheid.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate gave the optimistic outlook during a speech at a peace symposium in the south-western city of Cali, also attended by Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos, Bogota Archbishop Pedro Rubiano and other prominent figures.
Tutu held up his homeland of South Africa as an example for Colombia — that this South American country can find its way to peace after 40 years of war.
South Africa emerged from decades of brutal apartheid rule after negotiations established the nation’s first multiracial elections in 1994. South Africa previously appeared on the verge of a bloody race war.
”We have come here to persuade you as eloquently as we can: if it could happen in South Africa, it can happen — and will happen — in Colombia too,” Tutu said as the conference hall erupted in applause.
Tutu, who led South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission that researched horrors committed during apartheid, said any peace accord in Colombia must establish conditions that are accepted by all sides of the conflict.
Colombia’s war pits government forces and outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups against two rebel armies. — Sapa-AP