Taking hope where you can find it

Christian Science Monitor, January 2

For the first time in five years, no major wars are roiling the continent [of Africa], even if low-level conflicts still smolder. A deal to end Sudan's civil war - Africa's longest - could be struck this month. And peace processes are pushing ahead in Liberia, Burundi, Ivory Coast, and Congo.

Perhaps it's just a lull between storms. Yet observers see fundamental shifts that may create an era of relative calm for Africa's 800 million people.

The biggest new force is Africans themselves. Led by South Africa, there's growing desire to arm-twist warriors into laying down their weapons. Also, outside powers, including the United States, are more engaged. They may be motivated by antiterror fears, need for oil, or guilt for inaction during Rwanda's 1994 genocide, but they're increasingly supporting Africa's peaceful impulses.

The article goes on to recognize "Not that Eden has been created here. Even amid peace treaties, peacekeepers, and power-sharing governments, atrocities continue." It also notes deepening tensions in certain areas and the continued desperation of much of the continent as "lack of food, the AIDS crisis, ethnic repression, and more" bear down. Ignoring the pains could result in a state of "no war, but no peace either."

And yet, and yet - possibly scores of millions will have a respite from bloodshed, the chance to bury their dead, to reconstruct their towns, to plant their fields, to build their economies, to rest. It's true that "no war, but no peace either" is not sustainable and invariably conceals misery - and that what's required is the peace of justice, not merely the stagnant silence of a frozen status quo. But for the moment, long enough to take a breath and survey the stilled battlefields, let's focus on the fact that at least in the short term, while no-war-no-peace is no answer, it is still one step better than war-no-peace for the many who have been surrounded by the carnage.