UGANDA: Bishop calls for marriage across tribes; Orombi prays for calm in Kenya

January 02, 2008 [New Vision] Assistant Bishop Zac Niringiye of Kampala in the Anglican Church of Uganda has called for inter-ethnic marriages as a way of promoting unity to avoid conflicts, according to New Vision Online.

"I want to see more of our children crossing the Nile for marriage. The Bahima and the Baganda should marry more Acholi," Niringiye said in his New Year's Day sermon at All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero. Niringiye said that recent ethnic tensions in Kenya would have been avoided if there were more cross-cultural unions, the news service reported.

Violence erupted in Kenya on December 27 following a disputed general election. More than 300 people have reportedly died in the ethnic clashes. The presidential polls pitted the opposition's Raila Odinga from the Dhaluo tribe against the incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuyu.

"Some of you cry when you hear that your daughter has got a man from a different tribe. That is nonsense. There is nothing wrong with tribes and regions. Unless we get rid of tribalism we are heading nowhere," Niringiye said.

At St. Paul's Cathedral in Namirembe, Anglican Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi prayed for calm to return to Kenya, according to New Vision Online.

"We should thank God that we have reached 2008. There are some families who have lost their beloved ones like our neighbors in Kenya. I would like us to identify with them," he said.

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