wfn.org | All Africa News Agency - BULLETIN No. 36/02 September 16, 2002 (b)

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

AANA Bulletin is an ecumenical initiative to highlight all endeavours and 
experiences of Christians and the people of Africa.  AANA Bulletin is 
published weekly and, together with the French Edition - Bulletin APTA - is 
also available through e-mail.	For editorial and subscription details, 
please contact: 

AANA Bulletin	: Acting Editor - Mitch Odero		
Bulletin APTA: Edition en frangais, ridacteur intirimaire : Sylvie Alemba

All Africa News Agency
P.O. BOX 66878 NAIROBI, KENYA
TEL : (254 2) 442215, 440224 ; FAX : (254 2) 445847/443241
E-mail : aanaapta@insightkenya.com

New WCC Report Provides Forum For Common Reflection

NAIROBI (AANA) September 16 - The World Council of Churches WCC has 
published a special report on Africa as part of her solidarity with the 
Church in Africa.

The 48-page document, entitled The Journey of Hope, has been compiled by 
The Africa Task Force ATF composed of the WCC staff from the Africa region.

In his introductory message, the WCC General Secretary, Rev Dr Konrad 
Raiser says the special focus on Africa to which the WCC committed itself 
at the Harare Assembly (1998) stands in continuity of this long involvement 
in efforts of reconstructing Africa.

But this is not meant for another programme for WCC but rather a framework 
within which the global ecumenical accompaniment is to take shape, says
Raiser.

According to him, it offers the resources   of the ecumenical community in 
their common journey of hope.  Raiser says the document has identified 
three areas of its concern. They include: wars, conflict and governance.

And on their solutions, Raiser has observed that their solutions will not 
come from outside. "They must come from Africa and the initiatives under 
the Special Focus  are	 directed towards accompanying and enabling the 
churches in Africa to make   their own contribution to the search for 
solutions building on 40 years of growing ecumenical fellowship among each 
other".

The Special Focus is not an action programme or a "Marshall plan for 
Africa" but provides a platform for common reflection and 
formulating   strategies for action, both in Africa and in the wider 
ecumenical fellowship, says the top WCC official.

In his contribution, which has made the major part of the document, Rev Dr 
Sam Kobia, the WCC director for Cluster on Issues and Themes says the 
emergence and growth of regional ecumenical bodies such as FOCCISA 
(Fellowship of Councils of Churches in Southern Africa, FECCLAHA 
(Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and the 
Horn of Africa), FECCIWA (Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in 
West Africa), are good sign of consolidating regional partnership around 
the new ecumenical spaces that bring  the search for unity  closer home.

These may actually provide a new model for the regional consolidation of 
the ever weakening nation state providing alternative links and meaning to 
the OAU (Organization for African Unity), now AU (African Unity), says 
Kobia, in his article, entitled A Vision for Africa in the Twenty-First 
Century.

Kobia notes that the   contemporary theological problems being addressed by 
African scholars are partly due to the fact that the violation of the 
dignity of the African person by colonialism was to a very large extent 
endorsed by the early missionaries.

That means, he explains, that the African's historical experience with 
Christianity raises the question of authenticity.

A new vision for Africa must be informed by theology of reconstruction as 
an imperative vis-`-vis imperative the recovery of the authenticity of 
African Christianity, the Kenyan church leader adds.

According to him, a theology of reconstruction must involve the contextual 
reading of the Bible to allow for the kind of praxis that is at once 
personally and collectively liberating and empowering and must involve 
reconstruction of the African cosmology.

  He has also stressed that "in our approach to the issue of violence which 
is often linked to ethnicity, the Church must develop a new theological 
outlook which would enhance peace education and peaceful resolution of 
conflicts".

On Reconstruction of Equality in Partnership, Kobia says theology of 
reconstruction in Africa will be enriched by deep re-membering, a task of 
which requires new schools of	thought, new moral courage and new ways of 
learning from each other within, across and between communities.

  That way, he maintains, it will contribute more significantly to the 
process of defining new ways of ecumenical cooperation between African 
churches and our partners in the North.

And he reminds that "today, we are challenged to discover new ways of 
promoting harmonious inter-faith living as part of the plural reality that 
African has become".

"The triple heritage of African traditional ways of living, Christianity 
and Islam should be seen not as a source of conflict but rather as a basis 
for unity in diversity," the WCC official stresses.

Reported by Osman Njuguna

Two Million People Still At Risk Of Meningitis

KIGALI (AANA) September 16 - The   outbreak  of  meningitis in Rwanda 
continues to threaten the lives of some  two  million  people,	and fears 
are the disease may  spread  close  to Kigali, the  capital,  endangering 
another one  million  people.

Although the   situation  is  improving  in  some  areas,  thanks to the 
vaccination programme  supported by UNICEF and other partners, outbreaks 
have  occurred in new areas, stretching the available resources to their
limit.

The  situation	has  prompted the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with 
UNICEF,  WHO  and  MSF,  to  issue  an	appeal	for funds to support a mass 
vaccination  programme.

One million US dollars is required for the purchase of	vaccines and 
injection material, to vaccinate the two million people most 
at  risk.  A  further one million dollars is required to cover areas of the 
country  which	are  vulnerable  to  the  spread  of  the  disease from the 
neighbouring epidemic areas.

Speaking  after attending the meeting with the Minister of Health to launch 
the  appeal,  the  UNICEF Representative, Mr Theophane Nikyema, said 
"the   spread	of   the  disease  to  Kigali  City  would  be	potentially 
catastrophic".

"UNICEF  will continue to work closely with the Government of Rwanda and 
our partners in WHO and MSF to contain this disease outbreak.. We 
desperately  need  funding  in	order  to  quickly  bring  in  the vaccines 
necessary to protect people from meningitis".

UNICEF	has  already  provided	665,000 doses of vaccine. A further 250,000 
doses arrived in Kigali this morning.

On September 9,  the  Italian government generously contributed $243,000 to 
help in  purchasing  the required vaccines. DFID and USAID have also 
contributed funds  towards  these procurements.

Vaccines have also been procured by the 
Government,  WHO  and  MSF.  The  organisations are working together in the 
field to improve the monitoring of the spread of the disease, the treatment 
of those taken ill and to get the people vaccinated quickly.

To-date  there	have  been 683 cases of meningococcal meningitis confirmed, 
with 83 deaths.

SOURCE: UNICEF, Kigali

Churches Want Better Economic Life Of Ordinary Folks

NAIROBI (AANA) September 16 - Churches in Africa have been challenged to 
take a lead in analysing the recently instituted New Partnership for 
Africa's Development NEPAD due to its possible impact on the social, and 
economic life of the African people.

The challenge was issued in a communiqui issued at the end of their 
four-day Church World Service CWS Conference on Africa Initiative, held 
here during September 3-7 and attended by 100 delegates including General 
Secretaries and Chairmen of the Christian Councils in Africa.

  "Such critical evaluation of the document would then enable the churches 
to strengthen the (concept) and permit grass root participation while 
bringing into it the much lacking focus on gender and indigenous population 
issues," they resolved.

NEPAD needs to be based on a clear programme of ownership by civil society, 
observed that communiqui, stressing that "the challenges of NEPAD could not 
be left to Governments alone".

According to the communiqui, the Africa Initiative, fronted by CWS, a 
US-based ecumenical organization, aimed at bringing increased international 
attention and resources to the struggles faced by the majority of the 
African people and to continue its work with its partners to improve and 
expand local services, institutional and leadership capacities.

The churches sentiments described the Africa Initiative as grounded in 
ecumenical partnership. They said concerns of CWS in the Africa Initiative 
such as peace-building and reconciliation, water, health and food security 
and the impact of globalisation with major emphasis on gender, improved 
response to the plight of refugees and internally displaced people  marched 
well with many ecumenical concerns.

Such concerns, they said, embraced Mission and Relationship and Witness, 
Education, and advocacy, social and economic development, immigration and 
refuges and emergency response".

The communiqui also cited ecumenical church bodies such as the All Africa 
Conference of Churches AACC as major avenues through which NEPAD among 
other issues affecting the African people could be effectively be dealt with.

"Ecumenical bodies such as the AACC and regional church bodies such as the 
Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and the 
Horn of AfricaFECCLAHA; the Fellowship of Churches and Councils in West 
Africa FECCIWA and The Fellowship of Councils and Churches in Southern 
Africa FOCCISA had the capacity to work together to improve awareness about 
the implications of NEPAD,"  the church communiqui said.

Delegates to the Nairobi conference recommended that CWS should 
support   the formation by the ecumenical partners in Africa of an Eminent 
Person's Group for Peace-building and reconciliation, as part of her 
contribution in increasing work in area of conflict prevention and 
peace-building.

Such a programme would have to work over the next three years in conflict 
prone areas, the church communiqui stressed. It was signed by the CWS 
Executive Director, Rev John McCullough and the General Secretary of the 
National Council of Churches in Kenya NCCK, Rev  Mutava Musyimi.

The delegates called for effective response by churches and ecumenical 
partners in matters related to responding to the plight of refugees and 
internally displaced people, and to increase the role of churches in 
combating the HIV/AID pandemic.

They also stressed the role for churches and ecumenical partners in 
increasing support for programmes on sustainable development with emphasis 
on food security, water and gender as well as developing capacity and train 
in advocacy for social economic justice among churches and ecumenical
partners.

The communiqui stressed the need for building strategic alliances and 
networking for advocacy among churches and ecumenical partners.

Reported by Osman Njuguna

Pro-Poor Plans To Involve Women In Farming Business

NAIRIOBI (AANA) September 16 - A Pro-poor strategy for the development of 
agriculture needs to be designed with the active participation of the women 
and men who farm the land in Africa at all levels, says a document complied 
by the Africa-Canada Forum (ACF), a working group of the Canadian Council 
for International Co-operation (CCIC) and presented at a recent ecumenical 
conference here.

The document, presented at Church World Service CWS Conference on Africa 
Initiative that was held here, pointed out that the move would ensure that 
changes take into account the knowledge of farmers, and that increased 
production benefits them.

The delegates to the Nairobi   conference included General Secretaries and 
Chairmen of the National Christian Councils in Africa, and representatives 
of faith-related NGOs operating in the continent.

The four-day pan-African conference had been convened to bring increased 
international attention and resources to the struggles faced by the 
majority of the African people and to continue its work with its partners 
to improve and expand local services, institutional and leadership
capacities.

  The Nairobi conference, was convened by CWS which is a US-based 
ecumenical organization, stressed that changes must be sustainable in the 
long term, protecting	both environment and rural livelihoods. The 
delegates were from 31 African countries.

"National legislative and economic frameworks need to be put in place that 
ensure food security for citizens through actively supporting agricultural 
production and facilitating local transformation and marketing of produce," 
observed the document, entitled The New Partnership for Africa's 
Development NEPAD: A Commentary.

The document further stated that in Africa, the impact of HIV/AIDS, 
tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases on the labour force, investment, 
education systems, communities and families is both a consequence and a 
cause of the growing crisis of poverty.

Therefore, any African recovery plan that aims to eradicate poverty must 
include a strong public health policy and framework, said the document, 
stressing "twenty years of cuts to public health programs under structural 
adjustment have left health infrastructures underdeveloped and impoverished".

This inadequacy, the document further explained, must be seen as an urgent 
target for international action, rather than as an insurmountable obstacle 
or an excuse for denying equitable access to health care and medicines.

While	the improvement of health infrastructures is recognized as a 
sectoral priority in the Human Resource Development Initiative within the 
Programme of Action section of NEPAD, public health infrastructure 
development is not mentioned as a priority for immediate implementation, 
the document notes.

There is no discussion of the problematic restrictions of World Trade 
Organization WTO intellectual property rules on access to medicine, says 
the document, noting that "the ACFA and its partners are extremely 
concerned that NEPAD encourages the privatisation of social infrastructure 
such as the provision of water".

Reported by Osman Njuguna