Liverpool: Founder of Save the Congo gives 114th Roscoe Lecture

Vava Tampa

Vava Tampa, founder of Save The Congo, gave the 114th Roscoe Lecture at Liverpool John Moore University on Monday night.

Tampa spoke on the history of conflict and human rights abuses in the DRC and the historic role of Liverpool in the region, looking especially at the work of 20th century Congo-activist and founder of the Congo Reform Association, Edmund Dene Morel. Shaun Kenny, the great, great grandson of Edmund Dene Morel, also attended the event.

Save the Congo! is a non-political and not-for-profit campaigning agency working to end the wars in Congo and Africa. Vava opened the event by saying how excited he was to share his ambitions, hopes and thoughts on the situation in the Congo, particularly at a lecture series that celebrates the work of William Roscoe, who championed the cause of oppressed people and opposed the slave trade. He then spoke about what needs to be done to end the human suffering in the Congo, emphasising what each individual could do to help, in a multitude of contexts, from humanitarian to environmental.

Lord Alton of Liverpool; Rabbi David Mitchell; Rabbi Colin Eimer; Tim Butcher and Paul Rusesabagina are patrons of Save the Congo. Vava is also the founder of Morel Prize, an initiative to be launched later this year to memorialise the 140th anniversary of the twentieth century Congo-Activist and founder of the Congo Reform Association: Edmund Dene Morel.

Save the Congo! receives no funding from any government and all of its activities are founded by its own staff, supporters and donations from good-willed individuals. Its current campaign: 'the G8 time to Save the Congo' aims to sway the UK Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister to put ending impunity for crimes of international concern in Congo at the heart of G8 policies on Africa.

To listen to the full lecture click here: www.ljmu.ac.uk/roscoe/101110.htm

To watch a powerful short film on Save the Congo presented by Lord Alton see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=74gZhJOSvxI

Visit the Save the Congo website here: www.savethecongo.org.uk/