The unlikely hope of an 'impossible' peace?

A couple of things I've read today seem to be suggesting the same thing.

According to Charles Ringma:

'Hope can be born in the seemingly most impossible of situations. Hope does not need hopeful circumstances to raise a vision for a better future. Hope can be born in the most humble circumstances. It can spring up in the most unlikely places. And frequently, it is possessed by the most unlikely people. Hope frequently eludes the rich and powerful. It often makes it's home with the poor and needy'

While in Robert Guest's 'The Shackled Continent' I came across a story that adds surprising weight to Ringma's thoughts.

'In the early 1990s, two religious terrorists in Nigeria, Muhammad Ashafa and James Wuye, tried to have each other killed. It was during a burst of religious rioting for which Mr Ashafa blamed the Christian parliamentary group led by Mr Wuye, and Mr Wuye blamed Mr Ashafa' Muslim youth organisation. Christian assassins knocked on Mr Ashafa's door and killed the man who answered it. Their victim, as it happened, was Mr Ashafa's uncle. But they did not realize this. Meanwhile, Muslim assassins attacked Mr Wuye, hacked his arm off, and left him for dead.

Both men believed they had killed the other. When they later discovered that they had not, they took it as a sign from God that they should make peace. So they set up a joint charity to promote dialogue between Muslism and Christians. Now passionately committed to encouraging people of faith to live in harmony, Mr Wuye and Mr Ashafa are now the best of friends'(!).

An unlikely hope? Well, as likely as 'Christian assassins'!