Prioritize Food Security, Peace, and Social Justice: Justice and Peace Official to Leaders in Angola

Addressing the situation in Mozambique, particularly the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, he underscored the importance of credible judicial institutions, inclusive political dialogue, and stable governance.

The Angolan Catholic Priest also drew attention to growing youth-led protests across Africa, especially in Kenya, describing young people as a transformative social force demanding accountability, better governance, and social justice.

“Young people want change, they want a dignified life, they want a proper country,” he said, adding that the Church should play an active role as a mediator between political leaders and youth by promoting civic education, dialogue, and peaceful social transformation.

Fr. Epalanga further urged African political leaders to remember that politics should serve the common good and not elite interests.

“There are no first-class or second-class citizens,” he said, calling for more inclusive and just governance systems across the continent.

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The Jesuit Priest also highlighted the African philosophy of Ubuntu as an essential ethical foundation for reconciliation and unity in Africa.

“Ubuntu represents solidarity, hospitality, fraternity, forgiveness, and inclusion,” he said, lamenting xenophobic violence in South Africa as a contradiction of the philosophy historically associated with leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.

He praised Mandela’s legacy of forgiveness and reconciliation and recalled Archbishop Tutu’s famous words: “There is no future without forgiveness.”

Fr. Epalanga also reflected on Angola’s national reconciliation process through the Interministerial Commission for the Implementation of Reconciliation in Memory of Victims of Political Conflicts (CIVICOP), which was established in 2019 by Angolan President João Lourenço.

According to the Catholic Priest, Africa’s future depends on combining food security, social justice, peace, reconciliation, and African values such as Ubuntu.

“Africa possesses all the human, spiritual, and cultural resources necessary to overcome hunger, resolve conflicts, and become a place of dignified life for all its peoples,” Fr. Epalanga said.