wfn.org | Sudanese Bishop Seeks WCC Support for Peace in His War-torn Nation

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

Reply-To: wfn-news list <wfn-news@wfn.org>
7-December-1998 
 
    Sudanese Bishop Seeks WCC Support for Peace in His War-torn Nation 
 
    by Jerry Van Marter 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
Harare, Zimbabwe--A Roman Catholic bishop from Sudan today asked the World 
Council of Churches to support foreign intervention in his war-ravaged 
country similar to international efforts mounted in Kosovo and Iraq. 
 
Speaking at a "Celebration with Zimbabwean Churches" at Harare's huge 
Rufaro Stadium, Bishop Paride Taban of Sudan said: "My people, who have no 
voice, asked me to come here and give voice to their cries.  The suffering 
people of Sudan ask: 'Are we not worth as much protection from the bombers 
in Khartoum [Sudan's capital] as the Kurds are from the bombers in Baghdad? 
Are we not worth as much protection from those who would kill us as the 
people of Kosovo'?" 
 
Bishop Taban was preaching to a festive crowd of nearly 10 000 people, 
comprised of participants at the WCC's eighth assembly, which opened in 
Harare on 3 December, and local Zimbabwean Christians. He compared the 
situation in his country, which has been at civil war - between the Islamic 
north of the country and the Christian and animist south - for more than 40 
years, to Ezekiel's story of the valley of dry bones.  "In that day the 
people turned to God and he made them live," Bishop Taban said.  "Today our 
question is: can these African bones live?" 
 
He said that the problems of Africa - war, international debt, the 
oppression of women, internationalization, Aids - were "greater than any of 
us can comprehend. We need ecumenical harmony and unity to be able to meet 
them." Africa was one place where the church and ecumenical movement could 
make a difference, Bishop Taban insisted, "because if the statistics are to 
be believed, our continent is now the heartland of Christianity". 
 
The service, which gave Harare's Christians a chance to participate in 
assembly events and was led by local clergy,  was conducted from a 
makeshift stage on the field of the stadium. Zimbabwean Christian singers, 
dancers and musicians provided a vivid splash of color to the stadium.  WCC 
officials were led to the stage by a procession of young children carrying 
a simple wooden cross. 
 
The service began with two women crossing the stage on their knees - a 
traditional sign of humility - to offer a drink of water to the WCC's 
general secretary, Dr Konrad Raiser, and the moderator of the WCC's central 
committee, Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian Apostolic Church.  "In Africa, 
whenever you are traveling, when you arrive you are given water to drink," 
explained Jonathan Siyachitema, the "host" pastor and worship leader. 
Lively African hymns led the assembled congregation through the service to 
a benediction given in English and the two prominent indigenous languages 
of Zimbabwe - Shona and Ndebele - and an animated "liturgical dance" by 
scores of Zimbabwean Christians in a variety of indigenous dress. 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  This note sent by PCUSA NEWS
  to the wfn-news list <wfn-news@wfn.org>.
  Send unsubscribe requests to wfn-news-request@wfn.org