wfn.org | Ecumenical delegation to visit the Ivory Coast

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release 03-12
For Immediate Use 
7 March 2003

Ecumenical delegation to visit the Ivory Coast 
An interfaith initiative for peace and reconciliation 

Demonstrating their solidarity with the country's churches, an ecumenical
delegation will be visiting the Ivory Coast from 10 to 12 March in order to
explore the possibility of interfaith dialogue to help solve the political
and ethnic conflict that is dividing that country. 

The visit is an initiative of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in
cooperation with the All Africa Conference of Churches, and the delegation
will hold conversations with the leaders of the country's Christian churches.
As well as conveying to them the concern of the international ecumenical
community, they will examine with them the critical situation confronting the
country and discuss what contribution the churches and faith communities in
general can make towards a negotiated solution to the armed conflict between
rebel groups and the government. 

Together with leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and other faith
communities, the delegation will explore possibilities of joint action for
peace and reconciliation. They will sound out with members of government and
opposition parties the possibility of political support for such an
interfaith initiative. They will also attempt to meet with the committee
monitoring the agreement made in Paris in January between rebel groups and
the government. 

The delegation will be composed of three members: Mr Jean Fischer, former
director of the WCC Commission on Inter-Church Aid, Refugee and World Service
and former general secretary of the Conference of European Churches,
representing the WCC; Rev. Simon Dossou, president of the Protestant
Methodist Church of Benin; and Revd Gerson Bessa, moderator of the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Togo. They will be carrying out their
activities in the city of Abidjan. Visits to other areas will depend on the
security situation. 

The Ivory Coast has a population of 16 million, with the North mainly Muslim
and the South predominantly Christian. The WCC has two member churches in the
country: the Protestant Methodist Church and the Harrist Church. In a letter
to them dated 10 October 2002, Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, WCC general secretary,
encouraged them "to do all in their power to prevent the conflict from
deteriorating into a civil war", and "to analyse the underlying causes of the
crisis, and to remedy these to the best of your ability".

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office, 
tel: +41 (0)22 791 64 21 /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: media@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

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