In 1996, Caux's 50th anniversary, there was an international symposium on the theme An Agenda For Reconciliation, co-hosted with the National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA) in Tokyo and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC. At a meeting in Strasbourg in March 1998, representatives of twelve countries decided to launch Agenda for Reconciliation (AfR) as a means to co-ordinate this work.

• Reconciliation between France and Germany
• Japanese Apology
• The key to independence in Tunisia and Morocco
• Settling minority rights in South Tyrol
• From Rhodesian crisis to Zimbabwe
• Cambodian rebirth
• Somali peace initiative
• Bridging communities in Lebanon

Reconciliation between France
and Germany

As early as 1946, when Germany was shunned by other nations, Frank Buchman, MRA's founder, invited Germans to attend the first conferences in Caux. He believed that it was not possible to rebuild Europe without Germany. The Germans who came to Caux were the first to be authorised by the Allied Occupation to leave their country.

3,000 Germans and 2,000 French visited Caux between 1946 and 1950, among them parliamentarians, industrialists, trade unionists and journalists. The future German chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, who came to Caux in 1948, was later to express his gratitude to MRA for extending a hand of friendship to the German people.

MRA’s part in the reconciliation between France and Germany was the subject of an American research project by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, published in the book Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft, Oxford University Press, 1994.
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Japanese Apology

Japanese leaders have often been accused of failing to apologise publicly to those countries who suffered at Japan's hands during World War II. Yet certain prominent Japanese, inspired by MRA’s message, did make moves in this direction immediately after the war.

In June 1950 a delegation of 60 Japanese, among them politicians, trade unionists and industrialists, embarked from Caux on a tour of Europe and America. The delegation included the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and seven provincial governors. At a reception for them in the American Senate, the personal representative of the Japanese Prime Minister apologised for ‘Japan’s mistakes’, causing a sensation in the American press.

In 1957, parliamentarians influenced by MRA inspired Prime Minister Nobosuke Kishi to make public apologies in nine Pacific countries.

‘I shall always remember my visit to Caux in 1950,’ said Yasuhiro Nakasone, when he was Prime Minister. ‘At that time Moral Re-Armament helped to bring Japan back into the family of nations.’ Mr Nakasone is on the invitation committee for the 50th Anniversary of Caux.
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The Key to Independence in
Tunisia and Morocco

In the early 1950s, when independence movements gave rise to increasing tension in Tunisia and Morocco, both under French rule, individuals from these countries were affected by visits to Caux. Pasha Si Bekkai, later Prime Minister of independent Morocco, and Mohammed Masmoudi, representative in Paris of Tunisia’s Neo-Destour (Nationalist Party), visited Caux in 1953.

‘Caux saved me from plunging into despair and hatred,’ asserted Masmoudi. Back in France he agreed to meet informally with French representatives, with the result that the early negotiations between France and Tunisia proceeded in an atmosphere of trust. He was appointed Minister of State to the Tunisian government, to head the official talks with France between September 1954 and May 1955. According to Masmoudi, MRA prevented ‘a war without mercy against France’.
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Settling Minority Rights in South Tyrol

In the Austrian province of South Tyrol, annexed by Italy in 1919 as Alto Adige, tension between the German-speaking minority and the Italian administration increased in the fifties. Austria took the issue to the United Nations; there had been 300 terrorist attacks at the hands of local extremists.

Against a background of increasing violence, the first all-party delegation arrived in Caux at Whitsun 1968, followed by six more in the next 18 months.

A moving scene took place on the Caux platform when six from Alto Adige, including the German-speaking President of the Bolzano provincial government, Silvius Magnago, and the Italian-speaking Vice-President of the Regional Council of Trentino-Alto Adige, Armando Bertorelle, spoke. Bertorelle spoke in German as a gesture of goodwill. Magnago responded, ‘Now we have been at Caux together, I am convinced that when we return to the negotiating table, friendship will replace the bitter words of former occasions.’

Three years later, in 1971, Italian and Austrian parliaments both agreed the ‘packet’ of 137 legislative measures guaranteeing autonomy for the German-speaking community. It took 20 years, till 1992, for all the measures to be ratified by the Italian parliament. A vote that year in the Austrian parliament finally declared that Italy had fulfilled all the conditions of the agreement. The Washington Post commented that the vote 'cleared the way for the peaceful resolution of one of Central Europe's longest disputes about the rights of minorities'.

The Bolzano edition of the Italian daily Il Giorno wrote in 1969, ‘It is well to remember that our province has close links with Moral Re-Armament in view of the assistance given by the movement to politicians from both sides through the conferences in Caux. The result was a new attitude making possible a solution to the problems of Alto Adige when the Italians put forward their proposals.’
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From Rhodesian Crisis to Zimbabwe

In the Seventies thousands of lives were lost in the guerrilla war being waged to remove the white minority from power. Black and white Rhodesians, including the clergyman Arthur Kanodereka and Alec Smith, the son of the Rhodesian prime minister, attended conferences in Caux. They undertook a work of mediation and reconciliation between those in power and the guerrilla fighters. Tragically, Kanodereka was assassinated in December 1978, shortly after meeting Robert Mugabe, at that time one of the guerrilla leaders.

In 1979 a government minister and four members of parliament met in Caux with members of the opposition in exile. Some of these men were later to take part in the official talks at Lancaster House, London; others worked in the background.

While the elections were being organised, elements in the Rhodesian army prepared a coup in case Robert Mugabe should win. On the eve of the election results being announced, MRA people arranged a last minute meeting between Robert Mugabe and Ian Smith, the government leader. Next day both leaders defused the crisis by appealing for calm and reconciliation. Details of MRA’s role in Zimbabwe’s independence are recorded in the Oxford University Press publication Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft (1994).
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Cambodian Rebirth

Long before the Paris agreements of 1991 which restored peace to Cambodia, MRA personnel in France, Australia and the United States had kept in touch with many Cambodians in exile. Facing the prospect of returning to their country, they requested training sessions in Caux on subjects such as ‘How to forgive?’, ‘The moral and spiritual content of democracy’, ‘How to resist corruption’.

Several of these Cambodians decided to return to their country and took up positions of responsibility. The profound experience of forgiving their former enemies turned them into artisans of national reconciliation. In this spirit, seminars were held in Phnom Penh under the auspices of MRA in 1993 and 1994. Political and religious leaders took part and also attended summer conferences at Caux.

In Cambodia, video has proved to be an effective means of communication. The work of reconciliation has been reinforced by two videos in the Khmer language. One of these tells the story of Irene Laure, the French Resistance leader who gave up her sworn hatred for the Germans. The other video, The Serene Smile, based on Buddhist scriptures, calls for the breaking of the vicious circle of hate and vengeance.

Videos including material about Irène Laure, South Tyrol, Zimbabwe and Cambodia available from FLT Films.
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Somali Peace Initiative

Following a visit to Caux, Somali guerrilla fighter Ahmed Egal, in exile in Europe, got in touch with his former military chief who had put him in prison for a year. ‘I realised change had to begin with myself,’ he recounted. ‘I am free from fear and bitterness. This is a new weapon in the fight for my country.’

He then gathered representatives of the various tribes in the country. Sharing his own experience of reconciliation, he began to win their confidence. They decided to assemble a group of intellectuals from the different tribes in an effort to end tribal war by each encouraging a change of attitude in their own side. Their aim now is to restore a climate of trust between people, to train responsible leadership and to enable everybody to find their place once more in the economic life of the country after so many years of war.
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Bridging Communities in Lebanon

Ever since the early days of hostilities in their country, Lebanese from the Maronite, Orthodox, Melchite, Sunrite, Shiite and Druze communities have each year attended conferences in Caux. At home they have continued to work for genuine national reconciliation, without which all efforts to rebuild the country are at risk.
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