wfn.org | WCC - Ecumenical team to observe Zimbabwe elections

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

World Council of Churches
Press Release, PR-02-09
For Immediate Use
5 March 2002

Ecumenical team to observe Zimbabwe elections

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa
Conference of Churches (AACC) are coordinating an international
team to observe the Zimbabwean presidential elections taking
place 9-10 March 2002. Some members of the 86-person team are
already in place to observe election preparations.  

Following a decision by the Zimbabwean government not to admit
election observers from European Union countries, the WCC and
AACC decided to staff the ecumenical team with a majority of
observers from other African countries. The team thus includes
observers from Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana,
Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa,
Swaziland Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Other international
observers are from Canada and Norway. The ecumenical team will
join about 4000 local observers coordinated by the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches.  

One of the issues faced by both the local and international
observers has been the status of such teams. Traditionally,
election "monitors" have a higher reporting status and the power
to intervene if necessary in the voting process. Observers'
reporting may or may not be accepted officially, and they have no
power to intervene in the actual election process. The Zimbabwe
government has cast doubt on the question of whether or not local
ecumenical teams will be considered as monitors, as they were in
the 2000 election. The international team has clearly been
accorded observer status only. "It would have been more helpful
and useful to be monitors rather than observers, but we have to
abide by the policy of the Zimbabwean Government," says WCC
International Relations programme executive Melaku Kifle.  

While the WCC and AACC in consultation with the Zimbabwe Council
of Churches have been preparing for some time to send a team to
cover the elections, their plans could only be confirmed late
last week, when an official invitation from the Zimbabwean
government was received by the WCC.  

Despite the late confirmation, the WCC is pleased to be able to
have a presence in Zimbabwe during this critical time. "We are
going to Zimbabwe to give moral support and to be in solidarity
with the churches and the people of Zimbabwe, to assess with them
the whole process of the elections and to listen to the findings
and concerns of the churches and the people of Zimbabwe," says
Kifle.  

The WCC has a tradition of monitoring and observing elections in
Africa and other regions. There has been a long-standing
relationship between the WCC and the people of Zimbabwe which
dates back to the liberation struggle. In 1998, the WCC held its
eighth assembly in Harare. In 2000, the WCC participated in the
monitoring of Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections and in August of
last year, the WCC general secretary went to Zimbabwe during a
visit of Southern African nations.  

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.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: ka@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland