The National Reconciliation Congress (CNR), scheduled for October and presented this Wednesday in Luanda, is an initiative of CEAST, framed within the scope of the celebrations of the 50 years of independence of Angola to be marked on November 11, 2025.
According to the national secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation of CEAST, Celestino Epalanga, the congress will be a space for national reflection on the historical path of Angola and should produce a national charter of commitments.
"The production of this national charter of commitments is one of the expected results of this congress and this charter should bring together the lessons of the history of the last 50 years and define paths for the coming years", said Father Celestino Epalanga this Wednesday.
The CNR should bring together all the country's sensibilities, from social, political, religious, academic, business, cultural and other life for a "collective examination of conscience" on the country's path in half a century of independence, he said.
According to the priest, the "challenging path" of peace and reconciliation in Angola – which marks 23 years of peace and reconciliation on Friday, April 4 – in the social, religious and cultural spheres also guide the purposes of this conclave.
This congress should provide "spaces for self-evaluation and the search for new directions for our future, restorative moments for the Angolan nation and establish a commitment to new directions", he stressed.
This Wednesday, at a press conference at the CEAST headquarters in Luanda, Celestino Epalanga stated that the congress also appears as a space for historical retrospect around the lessons of 50 years of independence and the establishment of a common commitment.
"We will produce a letter for the 50th anniversary, reflecting the concerns that our historical past has produced, bringing a new proposal for life and assuming a commitment to renewal and conversion with the country", he maintained.
Health and education, defence and security, economy, justice and social communication are topics that will be discussed in panels during this congress, as part of the celebrations of Angola's 50th anniversary of independence.
Regarding the 23 years of peace and reconciliation, Celestino Epalanga highlighted the investments made in infrastructure, such as roads, hospitals and central areas, and said that Angola still faces the challenges of hunger, misery and poverty.
"We see many of our brothers and sisters who, unfortunately, have to go to landfills to eat, we see a large number of children living with chronic malnutrition, this is painful for a country", he lamented.
Celestino Epalanga concluded his speech by considering that the congress scheduled for October "comes to say that we need to build an inclusive country, because the philosophy of exclusion is what led us to civil war (...), and we already know that war is always a defeat, we lose lives and we remain stagnant".
