wfn.org | Central Committee, No. 4

[smm@wcc-coe.org]

------------------- ISS.WE follows --------------------
World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
18 September 1996

CENTRAL COMMITTEE  No.  4 

CENTRAL COMMITTEE COMMENTS ON BURUNDI, CUBA AND IRAQ

GENEVA, Switzerland (WCC)-- The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches has issued statements on Burundi and US sanctions against Cuba and noted its concern about US missile attacks on Iraq.

The texts were approved by the 156-member body, which is meeting here from 12-20 September, during a morning plenary session on Wednesday
18 September. The Committee also received an eight-page discussion paper on the contemporary role of the church in international affairs.

Burundi

The statement on Burundi speaks of a steadily deteriorating situation there following the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye in October 1993, noting that an estimated 100,000 people have been killed since then. Among recent victims was Roman Catholic Archbishop Joachim Ruhuna; and the statement laments his assassination and expresses condolences to the country's Catholics. 

The violence, which has caused over 200,000 persons to seek refuge in Zaire and Tanzania and forced another 200,000 from their homes within Burundi, is an expression of long-standing conflicts between Burundi's majority Hutu community and the Tutsi minority who control the army.

The Central Committee condemned "the continued use of violence by the armed groups and the military in Burundi to destroy innocent civilian life and property in the country" and called on the military leadership "to take immediate steps to reestablish constitutional rule".

The military took power in Burundi this summer following a massacre of over 300 civilians at Camp Bugendana in the Gitega region. The coup has been widely condemned by African leaders and the United Nations for jeopardizing peace efforts in the region.

The Committee praised peacemaking efforts by regional and international bodies, especially the initiative by former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere.

Assuring the churches of Burundi of "prayers and support in the trials of these days and in their efforts to become faithful witnesses for peace in their society", the Committee said present conditions "negate the basis of our Christian faith and experience. The gospel of our Lord teaches that life should be nourished and defended against the forces of darkness and death."

Cuba

The Committee roundly condemned the US Senate's Helms-Burton Amendment which penalizes nations and companies doing business with Cuba as a "new act of economic aggression against the people of Cuba". The escalation in sanctions will have a "terrible impact" on the Cuban people, the statement said.

The Committee recalled that it has repeatedly joined with churches and ecumenical bodies in Cuba, Latin America and the  Caribbean and the United States in denouncing earlier sanctions against Cuba.

The statement urged US President Bill Clinton "not to apply the measures called for" by the Helms-Burton amendment and asked the US and Cuban governments "to resolve their differences through negotiation and dialogue".
	
Iraq

Citing a "Statement of Concern" issued last week by leaders of the US National Council of Churches in response to US missile strikes in Iraq earlier this month, the Central Committee approved a minute calling on all nations to "respect the territorial integrity of Iraq".

The US NCC statement, while expressing "no sympathy for the policies of the present government of Iraq," called on the US and other governments "to pursue a course of discernment, diplomacy and cooperation that will both protect human life and embody the responsible use of power". It also called attention to the "terrible suffering of the Iraqi people".

The Central Committee cited with approval a WCC press statement on 4 September calling the US attacks "indefensible on moral grounds".

During discussion, Aukje Westra (Reformed Churches in the Netherlands) urged Committee members not to overlook the suffering of the Kurds in Iraq, whom she described as "the people of Kurdistan". Iraqi military actions among Kurds in the north of the country preceded the US aerial attacks.

Public issues committee moderator Aaron Tolen (Presbyterian Church of Cameroon) responded that the references in the statement to the Iraqi people and their suffering included the Kurdish population and that "officially Kurdistan is not a separate country from Iraq".

Asked in a subsequent press conference about the WCC position on Kurdish aspirations for an independent state, international affairs staff member Dwain Epps noted that the WCC has monitored the situation of the Kurds since the early 1970s.

"It is very clear that the Kurds are among the most mistreated minorities in the world," he added. However, as a result of continued intervention by outside powers, including the United States, Epps said, "it is not presently possible for the Kurds to speak with a single voice to make a legitimate claim for self-determination."

Other issues

WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser explained briefly to the Committee what the WCC is doing in response to human rights abuses in Nigeria, although no public statement was proposed for this meeting.

Following two recent international ecumenical visits to the country, Raiser said the WCC has called a consultation for November with the All Africa Council of Churches and other ecumenical bodies involved in Nigeria "to determine strategy and agree together on a common approach. After that consultation the WCC will be able in appropriate ways to make its own assessment of the situation in Nigeria."

The Central Committee asked the general secretary to send the document on the role of the church in international affairs to member churches for discussion, reflection and comment.

At the press conference, Epps noted that in recent years many churches have turned away from international issues. He said he hoped this new document would help the churches "to reassert their responsibility for looking at global issues". In the face of the growing complexity of the global situation in the post-Cold War period, he said, "our debates together must be more well-informed, so that the voice of the ecumenical movement can be heard and can make a difference, also by bringing the gospel to bear". In doing so, he said, "we have to confess very openly and very clearly that we do not have all the answers and that we cannot in every situation speak to the world simply and clearly".

*****
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 330, 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, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Press and Information Office
Tel:  (41.22) 791.61.52/51
Fax:  (41.22) 798 13 46
E-Mail: jwn@wcc-coe.org

P.O. Box 2100
CH-1211 Geneva 2