In Africa, pope preached lessons for all nations

Pope Francis’ first official visit to Africa, with stops in Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, gave him a chance to address three of the continent’s chief problems: corruption, chaos and presidents-forlife.

Kenya’s main problem, even if one asks Kenyans, is considered to be widespread corruption, starting within government. The latest revelation was that the Kenyan army, in principle combating the al-Shabab Islamic extremist movement in Somalia and in Kenya itself with substantial U.S. support, was also engaged in a profitable smuggling relationship with the Somali group involving sugar and charcoal.

Uganda is hurt by the fact that President Yoweri Museveni is one of those African leaders who seems to be incapable of leaving office. He has been president since 1986, for 29 years—not much less than President Robert G. Mugabe’s 35 years in Zimbabwe. Uganda is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state of 39 million with reasonable economic prospects, but it has not benefited from the insistence of its leader’s self- imagined indispensability.

The Central African Republic is perhaps the saddest of the three. It is a war zone, with 14,000 French and United Nations troops there to prevent recurrent mayhem between the Christian majority and Muslim minority. Pope Francis risked his life to go there, but once in Bangui, the capital, he circulated freely, with light security, visiting a mosque as well as churches and meeting with imams and other Muslims as well as with Christians and their clergy.

In Kenya, Pope Francis preached honesty. In Uganda, he preached tolerance, addressing the country’s occasional tendency to act against gays. In the Central African Republic, he urged peace between Christians and Muslims, who have been fighting for years.

His consistent message was that Christians and Muslims are brothers, should put down their arms and love one another. It is important for the other people of the world not to dismiss his plea, but to ask whether his message isn’t applicable to their countries, too.