wfn.org | WCC - Thabo Mbeki asks churches to promote conflict

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

resolution in Southern Africa

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-01-27
For Immediate Use
24 August 2001

Thabo Mbeki asks churches to promote conflict resolution in
Southern Africa

cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-28, of 13 August 2001

Speaking to a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation and
representatives of the South African Council of Churches (SACC)
last week, South African president Thabo Mbeki urged both the WCC
and all other religious bodies in Southern Africa to help resolve
conflicts in the SADC (Southern African Development Community)
region. The WCC delegation was in South Africa on the first leg
of a ten-day (14-27 August) visit to Southern Africa that
included Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.  

At the 16 August meeting at the state house in Pretoria,
President Mbeki said SADC requires the churches' help in two
areas: the land question in Zimbabwe and the ongoing war in
Angola. SADC heads of state had tried everything in their power
to bring the 41-year-old war to an end, to no avail. Mbeki
reported that the Angolan rebel (UNITA) leader Jonas Savimbi and
the Angolan government are not on speaking terms; fortunately,
however, Angola's president Jose Eduardo Dos-Santos has agreed
that only dialogue and not military action can end the conflict. 

Like the political leaders, religious bodies in the region are
in a dilemma as to how to address this war. According to a WCC
delegation member from Angola, Rev. Caetano, the churches are not
united on the issue. WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser
suggested that a meeting of all religious groups in Angola with
the government and rebel groups might be a way to move forward.
"The problem of Angola cannot be dealt with from outside, and the
WCC can only back up and support the churches," Raiser noted.  

On the land question in Zimbabwe, president Mbeki reported that
Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe had recently agreed to a visit
to Zimbabwe by the six SADC heads of state. "We agreed that the
group needs to intervene. It will talk with commercial farmers,
war veterans, landless people and all other stakeholders in the
land question in Zimbabwe," he said. He also emphasized that
Zimbabwe's critical economic situation, especially a food
shortage predicted before the end of the year, needs immediate
attention. "It is only now that the political leadership is
realizing that they are in serious trouble," Mbeki said. He
challenged Zimbabwe's opposition parties not only to criticize
the government but also to focus together on the coming crisis. 

The WCC delegation's four-day visit to South Africa coincided
with SACC's 2nd Triennial National Conference on the theme "With
Christ in Africa Today". Preaching at the opening worship
service, Raiser challenged the Christian community to be the salt
and light of the world. Examples of that, he said, were to be
found in the role played by South Africa's churches during the
apartheid regime; in Brazil, where the churches fought for
Indigenous people's rights; and in the former German Democratic
Republic where churches became a source of inspiration and
encouragement for a non-violent revolution.  

Addressing the conference, SACC president Bishop Mvume Dandala
highlighted some of the challenges South Africa faces seven years
after the fall of apartheid. "It is stated that the legacy of
apartheid continues to haunt the South African nation. This
legacy has manifested itself in a myriad of ways, including
landlessness and massive impoverishment of the majority of our
people and the accumulation of property and wealth by
beneficiaries of the past regimes," he declared.  

War spills over to Namibia

The war in Angola was also a major focus on the next leg of the
WCC tour. The war in Angola has spilled over into Namibia's
Kavango and Caprivi regions, and UNITA has been laying
anti-personnel mines there.  

The five-day (17-22 August) WCC visit to Namibia began in the
capital, Windhoek, and ended in Rundu, on the border with Angola,
where a government transit camp facilitates the transfer of
refugees to a larger camp; close to 20,000 refugees, mainly from
Angola and central African countries, are living in the latter
camp. 

Addressing a gathering of Angolan church leaders, officials of
the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) and some Angolan and
Namibian residents of Rundu, Raiser reminded the churches that
they themselves can change the situation in their countries.  

"Churches must unite in order to find a solution to the endless
war in Angola. Outside intervention is not viable if people
inside the country have lost hope," Raiser said. The delegation
had come to listen to the churches directly involved and see how
the WCC could help in the decisions made by the two church
bodies, he said. "At this point we can only be in solidarity with
you," he concluded.  

CCN general secretary, Rev. Nanbula Kathindi, reported that
Namibia's churches are providing Angolan refugees with shelter,
food and clothing; they also conducted an ecumenical service in
Rundu in solidarity with the Angolan refugees and Namibian
victims of Angola's war.  

Speaking on behalf of the Angolan delegation, which had come to
Rundu specifically to meet with the Namibian Church leaders, the
president of the Council of Christian Churches in Angola, Rev.
Luis Ngiombi, announced the formation of an interreligious
council. Comprised of the Catholic Church and some evangelical
churches, it focuses on peace and helps distribute food to
internally displaced people. It is hampered by financial
constraints within the Christian Council, but is supported by the
Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FOCCISA) and
CCN.  

After two days of listening to the churches in Angola and
Namibia describe their plight, the Rundu meeting asked Angolan
church leaders to keep all the neighbouring Christian councils
informed on progress towards or barriers to peaceful resolution
of the conflict. FOCCISA called for pastoral visits to Angola to
increase, and challenged all Southern African churches to
pressure their governments to take the conflict as a serious
priority. Lastly, it was decided that the Angolan churches will
compose a prayer for worldwide solidarity, and that the WCC and
AACC will distribute the prayer through their networks.  

Before leaving Namibia the delegation, together with members of
the CCN, paid a courtesy call to Namibia's president, Sam Nujoma,
who thanked the WCC delegation for visiting the country.
Commenting on the Angolan conflict, President Nujoma noted that
"Although the Lusaka protocol fell by the wayside, political will
to end the war will definitely continue," and assured the
delegation that the conflict is being taken seriously not only by
the churches but also by his government.  

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office,
Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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