wfn.org | AANA Bulletin BULLETIN No. 31/02 August 12, 2002 (a)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

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AANA Bulletin								Bulletin APTA
  Editor - Mitch Odero							Acting Editor - Silvie Alemba

AACC Sends An Urgent Appeal For Food Aid
To Save 12 million People Facing Starvation

NAIROBI (AANA) Agust 12 - The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) has 
sent out an urgent appeal for food aid to help save lives of 12 million 
people facing death by starvation in Southern Africa.

The appeal was made by the AACC Interim General Secretary Mr. Melaku Kifle 
noting that "time is not in our favour.  We have to act now or we shall be 
overtaken by events."

He appealed to the international community and the aid agencies to "respond 
to their fellow-feeling" to save lives in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Mr. Kifle also urged the global ecumenical family and AACC member churches 
to use their influence on their respective governments to help acquire 
"desperately needed relief" noting that the region was suffering from the 
worst drought in the last five years.

The General Secretary noted that Malawi has reported an immediate shortfall 
of 700,000 tons of food to avert widespread hunger.  "In that country, some 
three million people are in danger of starvation," he added.

Zambia, he went on, has experienced severe food shortage placing four 
million people at risk of starvation while in Zimbabwe, about five million 
people are facing acute food shortages.

Noting the ironies of natural disasters, Mr. Kifle recalled that it was not 
long ago when the region was plunged into raging floods.  "Today, it is the 
opposite, the region is hard hit by severe drought.", he went on.

Mr. Kifle noted that even Mozambique which made remarkable recovery from 
floods has not been spared by drought to the extent that half a million of 
her people will be affected by the food shortages if food aid need 
urgently, are not acquired in time.

The General Secretary said he was aware of some logistical difficulties 
already experienced in the distribution of relief, particularly in Zimbabwe 
and gave an assurance that AACC with its member churches and national 
councils will be ready to coordinate the distribution and ensure aid 
reaches the needy.

Mr. Melaku went on "we are also aware of the contribution of poor 
governance to the collapse of grain production in some cases, but when it 
comes to saving lives, lives of the very victims of poor governance, we 
really have little options".  AACC, he said, was meanwhile keenly watching 
the situation unfolding in the Horn of Africa where crop failure as a 
result of rainfall shortage will lead to widespread hunger.

AACC is a fellowship of Churches and Christian councils in Africa.  It 
enjoys a membership of 168 national churches and Christian councils in 39 
African countries.

SOURCE: AACC Information Desk

Janda Is Admitted Into A Hospital

The immediate former General Secretary of the All Africa Conference of 
Churches Rev Canon Clement Janda was admitted at Nairobi Hospital with 
acute spinal pain.

He was hospitalised at the hospital's St Luke wing last Monday.  He was due 
for scanning to determine ways of managing what is expected to be a 
delicate operation.

Your prayers will be appreciated by his family.

Madagascar: From A Political Crisis To Killer Virus Attacks

FIANARANTSOA, Madagascar (AANA) August 12 - A mysterious disease has hit 
the suburbs of the city of Fianarantsoa, about 350 kilometres south of 
Madagascar's capital of Antananarivo, killing 186 people.

Sources around the city say the epidemic has not yet reached Fianarantsoa 
but was highly spreading in the rural zones surrounding the city.

A team of French experts has been sent to the afflicted region to contain 
the epidemic, which they describe as having symptoms similar to influenza.

Malagasy health officials say the figure is just a preliminary one, given 
that 1,900 people have already contracted the disease.  However, Missionary 
Service News Agency (MISNA) note that the toll may be considerably higher 
than the official figure.

The killer virus that kills in seconds, has caught the attention of the 
World Health Organisation (WHO), which is now taking action in the 
identification of the strange virus.

A MISNA missionary in Fianarantsoa attributes death of victims to the fact 
that clinics and health dispensaries are too far and people have to look 
for alternative curative measures. "Medicine distribution centres are too 
far and so people have resorted to taking traditional medicine, which are 
ineffective in the case of this virus."

Reports say Malagasy government has mobilised doctors and is making 
attempts to send medicine to the affected area.  Some difficulty is 
however, being experienced owing to recent political crisis that saw some 
access roads destroyed.

Reported by Joyce Mulama

  Lutheran Membership Swells

GENEVA (AANA) August 12  - Lutheran Church membership worldwide has grown 
by more than 1.4 million, to reach a total of 65.4 million (65,387,677) by 
2001, representing an increase of some 2.2 percent.

In 2000, global membership fell just short of 64 million mark, and in 1999 
there were 63.1 million members.

The number of LWF member churches increased from 131 to 133, of which 130 
are full members and three are associate members. The number of Lutherans 
belonging to non-LWF-member churches decreased by about 92,000, down to 
3,683,126, according to the latest statistics published by LWF.

The largest 2000-2001 increase was in Africa. The continent now has 
1,368,489 more members, reaching a total of 11,953,068. The Lutheran Church 
of Christ in Nigeria showed the sharpest increase globally, growing by some 
62 percent to reach 1,167,023 members.

Two more churches saw 50 percent increases - the Malagasy Lutheran Church, 
with 2,250,000 members, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic 
of Namibia (ELCRN) with 300,000.

Double-digit percent increases were also reported by the Kenya Evangelical 
Lutheran Church with 30,000 members, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
Malawi with 25,000 and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe with 
110,000. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) increased by 9 
percent to a 580,000 total.

The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) is still the biggest 
African Lutheran church, with an unchanged membership of around 3.36 
million. The second largest is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania 
with about 2.5 million.

In Europe, overall Lutheran membership decreased by 305,118, down to 
36,642,084. Membership of the largest Lutheran church in the world - the 
Church of Sweden - remained unchanged at 7,399,915, while that of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the third largest in the world, 
increased slightly to 4,606,543.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark has 4,532,635 members, having 
lost some 3,800. Membership of the Church of Norway remains unchanged at 
3.8 million.

Of any country, Germany has by far the most Lutherans. The overall 2001 
total was 13,649,314, a decrease of about 222,226.  In Asia, the number of 
Lutherans increased by over five percent in 2001. Of the 7,146,011 total of 
Lutheran church members there, 7,025,779 belong to LWF member churches.

Decreases in membership were reported by the Lutheran Church in Australia, 
with about 85,000, a loss of 9,000, and the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and 
Singapore with 6,000 members, about a 25 percent loss.

The North American Lutheran churches lost almost 24,000 members in 2001. Of 
a total of 8,519,967 Lutherans, 5,331,573 belonged to LWF member churches. 
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the second largest LWF 
member church, had 5,125,919 members, representing an almost 24,000-member 
loss.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), with 188,654 members, 
showed a loss of almost 3,000. The Association of Free Lutheran 
Congregations, in the USA, which keeps in loose contact with the LWF, 
increased by more than 10% to a 36,400 total.

Reported by Pauline Mumia
Lutheran World Information

Loyal Soldiers Quash Mutiny

NIAMEY (AANA) August 12 - Niger's loyal soldiers have quashed a mutiny 
staged by a section of soldiers.   The mutiny started on July 31 at Djifar, 
about 1600 kilometres to the south east of Niger's capital city of Niamey 
and was quashed by the country's loyal soldiers four days later.

Reports say the dissident soldiers were reacting to poor working conditions 
within the military.

Tension had been building over the soldiers' dissatisfaction with the 
military hierarchy.  A number of them openly discredited their commander, 
saying he was not qualified to head the military.

The rebel soldiers cited poor salaries as additional cause for their 
dissatisfaction.  They called for unconditional increments, while pointing 
an accusing finger at their top boss for not having heeded their past concerns.

During the mutiny, rebellious soldiers took positions at the entrance of 
the town (Djifar) and sang slogans hostile to both the government and their 
head.  They were equipped with sophisticated weapons.  They had taken over 
a local radio station to announce their rebellion.

The country's Minister for Defence Mr Saidou Dadi Goah denounced the 
behaviour of the rebelling soldiers at Djifar.  He called on them to return 
to barracks as a number of them, including some civilians, got arrested.

This happened after the government sent loyal soldiers on August 3 from 
Niamey to quash the mutiny at Djifar.

A number of the rebel soldiers are however reported to have crossed over 
into Nigeria.  Negotiations are going on between Nigeria and Niger military 
commands over possible repatriation of the fleeing soldiers.

Government spokesman said the Niger government would commit itself at any 
cost to bring back peace within the military forces.

Reported by Charles Eyitayt YAI

Governments Devise Action Plans Against Illicit Arms

NAIROBI (AANA) August 12 - Governments within the Great Lakes and the Horn 
of Africa regions should incorporate the participation of civil society and 
the international like-minded agencies and organisations in fighting the 
trafficking in of illicit small arms and light weapons.

Delegates attending the first ministerial review conference of the Nairobi 
Declaration on the problem of the proliferation of illicit small arms and 
light weapons in the regions, held here between August 7-8 also called for 
the establishment and effective operationalisation of national focal points 
to deal with the problem of small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.

This should also oversee the implementation of a co-ordinated agenda for 
action at the national level, and to interact effectively with the regional 
coordinating unit of the Nairobi secretariat, delegates to the Nairobi 
conference further resolved.

The Ministerial Declaration, signed by Government delegations from Burundi, 
Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, 
Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, also called for the establishment of 
sustainable and comprehensive national plans for implementation of action 
on arms management and disarmament.

The government representatives to the Nairobi conferences observed 
that  "these measures will contribute towards preventing, combating and 
eradicating   the stockpiling   and illicit trafficking in small arms and 
light weapons, ammunition and related material in the two regions- Great 
Lakes and the Horn of Africa".

According to the declaration, nations within the two regions should 
prohibit the unrestricted civilian possession of small arms and the total 
prohibition of the civilian procession and use of light weapons and 
automatic and semi-automatic rifles and machine guns.

They agreed that they should regulate and control the manufacture, import, 
export, transfer, brokering, possession and use of small arms, light 
weapons, ammunition and other related materials.

Other action plans include effective regulation and centralisation of 
registration of all firearms owned by civilians as well as the need to 
standardise the marking and identification of small arms and light weapons 
at the time of manufacture, import and export.

They resolved:

o	To promote national and regional public education and awareness 
programmes concerning   the curbing of the proliferation of small arms and 
light weapon.

o	To improve the operational capacity of the police, customs officials, 
border guards, the military and the judiciary in order to combat the 
illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons, ammunition and other 
related materials.

o	To institute appropriate and effective measures for cooperation between 
law enforcement agencies in order to curb corruption associated with the 
illicit manufacturing and trafficking in, possession 	and use of small, 
light weapons, ammunition and other related materials.

Reported by Osman Njuguna

Battle Cry Sounded To Fight Killer Diseases In Africa

NAIROBI (AANA) AUGUST 12 - The burden of disease due to parasitic 
infections has reached alarming levels in Africa.

Malaria, schistosomiasis (Bilharzia) and lymphatic filarisis 
(elephantiasis) account for a great number of deaths on the continent.

Current statistics on schistosomiasis show that over 650 million people 
worldwide are at risk of infection and that 193 million are already 
infected. 75 percent of those at risk and 85 percent of the infected are 
from Africa. Of the infected, 20 million suffer severe complications such 
as bladder cancer and liver complications.

Over one billion people worldwide are at risk of lymphatic filariasis, and 
120 million people in tropical and subtropical areas of the world are 
infected. Most infections of the disease are acquired during 
childhood.  The symptoms only progresses to clinical manifestation in 
adulthood. It is the second most prevalent of all tropical diseases after 
malaria.

These statistics were exposed during a three-day regional symposium on 
Parasitic Disease Control Programme in Eastern and Sounthern Africa held in 
Nairobi last week (August 6-8)

Malaria has received worldwide attention and it is being addressed through 
a global initiative "Roll Back Malaria", a programme involving 
international partners and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The goal of 
this project is to eliminate malaria by the year 2010.

Speaking during the opening of the symposium, Kenya's minister for Public 
Health, Prof Sam Ongeri, regretted that parasitic infections coupled with 
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other related ailments constituted the greatest 
cause of deaths and ill health in Africa.

He recalled that there was a time when developed countries had fallen prey 
to parasitic infections and succeeded in eradicating them. "While we need 
to borrow a leaf from them, they should also rally behind us to help us in 
getting rid of these diseases," he said.

Prof Ongeri challenged African countries to come up with "a battle cry" to 
do what it takes to purge these killer diseases from the region, saying: 
"It does not matter how long or what it will take, but let us declare a 
crusade to eliminate them from our continent."

He called on affected countries to re-orientate their strategies and invest 
more resources to the control of parasitic diseases.

Prof Ongeri urged African countries to embrace the concept of the global 
parasite control initiative dubbed, "The Hashimoto Initiative" (named after 
its proponent, Ryutaro Hashimoto), which was adopted in 1998 at the G8 
Summit in Birmingham to declare war on parasites.

Recognising the importance of parasite control, the then Prime minister of 
Japan, Mr Ryutaro Hashimoto stressed the need for international cooperation 
in this area at the 1997 G8 summit in Denver. His initiative bore fruit the 
following year.

The Japanese Ambassador to Kenya Mr Makoto Asami, who participated at the 
symposium, noted that his country had had a long experience in parasite 
control, and was ready to assist developing countries in containing 
parasitic diseases.

He revealed that his government had allocated US$ 3 billion for over five 
years to fight infectious and parasitic diseases.

The participants formulated a plan of action which advocates for private 
sector participation in the war against parasites, integration of disease 
control and prevention activities and mass education on parasitic infections.

The conference was attended by top health policy makers from Kenya, 
Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar with facilitators 
from Japan, Thailand, USA, Switzerland and from international development 
organisations.

Reported by Joyce Mulama

Ugandan Churches Strive To Maintain Control Of Schools

KAMPALA (AANA) August 12 - Members of Parliament (MPs) in Uganda have 
pitched in the battle for control of church founded schools in the country. 
Founding religious bodies must approve head teachers who are posted to 
these schools, the parliamentary committee on Social Services, has said.

The committee was reacting to an earlier call by the Church of 
Uganda(Anglican) and the Ministry of Education and Sports to take into 
account the religious faith of head teachers before posting them to 
religiously founded schools.

Saying that transfers of head teachers are always affected after "lengthy 
consultations", Ms Betty Aketch, Minister of State for Higher Education 
denied clams that the transfer of headmasters or headmistresses was 
completely arbitrary.

But during a meeting August 1, with officials from the Ministry, a member 
of the Parliamentary Committee, MP Balamu Johnny said the ministry does not 
consult with Protestant bodies before posting head teachers to Anglican 
founded schools.  Yet, he further alleged, it consulted with Catholic and 
Muslim bodies.

"There is now open discrimination because the policy makers in the ministry 
are mainly Muslims and Catholics," the independent newspaper The 
Monitor  reported the MP as saying.

In his call, Anglican Archbishop Nkoyoyo, said schools founded by his 
Church should strictly be headed by Anglican head teachers. He also 
directed head teachers in the same schools to display portraits of the 
Archbishop and bishops of their respective dioceses in their offices.

There was a lack of norms and identity in these schools because they had 
been hijacked by other faith, Nkoyoyo said. Having Protestant heads would 
help the institutions preserve the Anglican norms, he added.

The controversy over former church sponsored schools now fully or partially 
run by government is not new.  Alarmed by the seemingly rampant moral 
decadence in schools, the Ugandan head of the Catholic Church, His Eminence 
Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala, two years ago asked the government to return the 
schools to their church founders.

Reported by Robert Kizito

New Vatican's Envoy To Sudan

VATICAN CITY (AANA) August 12 - Pope John Paul 11 has appointed Bishop 
Dominique Mamberti as new Apostolic Nuncio (Ambassador) to Sudan

The appointment was announced here mid last month (July 11) by the 
Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, when he consecrated 
Bishop Mamberti at Saint Peter's Square as the new Apostolic Nuncio for Sudan.

During his homily, Cardinal Sodano hailed the Church in Sudan for its 
involvement in evangelisation and human development.

He observed that the church has been forced to live amid socio-political 
and military conflicts in a prevailing Muslim atmosphere.

He added that the Christian community does not ask for more than the right 
to religious liberty, the freedom to proclaim the Gospel as a message of 
peace and hope.

Reported by Osman Njuguna