wfn.org | Ecumenical group gets look at West Africa's refugee crisis

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

July 10, 2002   News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-31-71B{293}

By Carol Fouke-Mpoyo*

CONAKRY, Republic of Guinea, West Africa (UMNS) -- The Mano River countries
of West Africa continue to struggle with affronts to basic human rights and
needs.

As members of a Church World Service delegation have learned, escalating
civil conflicts and streams of refugees crossing borders are taxing the
capacities of neighboring countries.

Guinea was the first stop of a four-nation West African tour by the
eight-member, ecumenical CWS delegation. During the first week of July, the
group joined with the Christian Council of Guinea for meetings with
government leaders, U.N. refugee officials and partner nongovernmental
organizations.

CWS is telling leaders of each of the Mano River Union's countries about the
churches' vital role in ensuring services and support for the people of West
Africa.

Before journeying to Gambia, where the group spent July 6-9, and then
traveling to Sierra Leone and Liberia, the delegation issued a parting
statement to Guinean President Lansana Conti. Dated July 6, the statement
noted that CWS had come "as an expression of a larger ecumenical movement
which is deeply concerned about the crisis of civil disturbance and the
plight of the peoples of West Africa who feel that their basic human rights
are severely compromised by this sub-regional conflict."

As Sierra Leone Ambassador to the U.S. John F. Leigh said in a letter
welcoming the upcoming CWS delegation, "If there is any region in the world
that needs healing, West Africa is that region." The trip marks CWS'
expanding commitment to Africa.

The Rev. John L. McCullough, a United Methodist pastor and CWS executive
director, pointed out the need to "be in solidarity" with Christian councils
in each country, offering a voice on behalf of the larger ecumenical
community.

The delegation also wants "to draw greater international attention to the
region's conflicts and the urgent need for increased humanitarian
assistance, economic stimulus, and relief of the burden of debt that makes
adequate standards of living virtually impossible for these countries," he
said.

CWS plans to develop an education and advocacy strategy "intended to better
inform American Christians of the region's needs and their ability to help,"
McCullough added. That strategy also will include a focus on American
foreign policy regarding the allocation of aid to the sub-region.

Since January, renewed fighting in Liberia has driven some 18,000 new
refugees into Guinea. As of the end of June, refugee camps in Guinea were
accommodating nearly 37,000 refugees, most of them Liberians.

Of the 7 million people in Guinea, one in eight is a refugee. "Many Guineans
can only afford only one meal a day," McCullough noted. "Unemployment is
high; pay is low."

Christians make up about 15 percent of Guinea's predominantly Muslim
population. The 6-month-old Christian Council of Guinea represents the
country's Protestants, Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

Church Council head Bishop Albert David Gomez, serving as host of the CWS
delegation to West Africa, told the group that when conflicts in Sierra
Leone and Liberia drove the first wave of thousands to safety across the
region's relatively permeable borders, Guineans took the refugees into their
homes.

But relationships have become strained. In September 2000, a cross-border
attack from Sierra Leone raised anti-immigrant sentiment. "Conditions," said
McCullough, "are at a crisis point. And yet the Guinean people are still
sharing."

The Rev. Canon Benjamin Musoke-Lubega, an Episcopalian and delegation
participant, is a member of the Worldwide Anglican Communion and partnership
officer for Africa. He pointed out that a lot more sharing is needed from
other sources.

In its series of meetings with the Guinean church council, UNICEF and the
office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the advocacy
group learned "that there is a real budget crisis," Musoke-Lubega said.

"Half way through their budget year, UNICEF can only be sure of about 30
percent of the funds it needs," he said. "But it's worse for UNHCR here.
What they've gotten in cash and pledges so far this year is just $7
(million) or $8 million, against a $27 million budget.

"They're scrambling just to get shelter and food for people," he said. "They
have declared a low-level emergency concerning this new influx of Liberian
refugees."

McCullough said the United States is doing its part, "although the U.S. can
put further pressure on other nations such as England, Germany and Japan.
And the U.S. could make special contributions."

The church, according to the CWS delegation, is also doing its part. "The
Guinean council is part of a larger, worldwide ecumenical movement that
plays a vital role in advocating for and serving these crisis areas and in
supporting refugee issues," McCullough noted.

During the delegation's meeting in Guinea with the U.N. refugee office, CWS
Deputy Director of Programs Kirsten Laursen described how Church World
Service manages the refugee processing offices in Accra and Nairobi for the
U.S. State Department, working hand in hand with the United Nations to help
with refugee resettlement.

CWS is advocating for the U.S. to take its fair share of refugees from the
Mano River region. "We're concerned that since 9/11, there has been only a
trickle of refugees," Laursen said. "We're working with our government to
have them meet their quotas."

Other delegation members include Victor Hsu, senior adviser to the CWS
executive director; Moses Ole Sakuda, Presbyterian Church USA; the Rev.
Philip Reed, Roman Catholic, Missionaries of Africa; and Susan Sanders,
United Church of Christ.
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*Fouke-Mpoyo is traveling with the CWS delegation as media liaison.

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United Methodist News Service
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