wfn.org | WCC Gen. Sec. in Ethiopia (2)

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World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
24 January 1997

WCC GENERAL SECRETARY HOLDS TALKS WITH PRESIDENT OF
ETHIOPIA AND OAU SECRETARY-GENERAL

Church-State relations, plus regional and internal conflicts in
Africa were at the centre of separate conversations held this
week in Addis Ababa by Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, General Secretary
of the World Council of Churches (WCC), with Ethiopian President
Negaso Gidada and Secretary-General Salim A. Salim of the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

Dr Raiser is in Ethiopia for pastoral visits to the two WCC
member churches in the country - the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
and the Mekane Yesus (Lutheran Protestant) Church.

"Christian churches and the Jewish and Muslim communities of
Ethiopia suffered greatly during the past seventeen years of
authoritarian rule in our country", President Gidada told Raiser
on Wednesday 22 January.  He added, "The new Ethiopian
Constitution seeks to redress the situation by guaranteeing
citizens the right to practise religion in private or in public,
to adopt the religion of their choice, and to establish religious
institutions".

The President told Raiser he believed churches "are essential to
the rebuilding of a free and democratic Ethiopian society but in
situations of poverty and social upheaval the threat of religious
extremism is ever present.  We need the constructive
contributions of the churches as we pursue the goals of political
stability and social development.  In this connection, we
particularly welcome the WCC's efforts to promote Christian unity
and your timely visit to our country".

Raiser then went on to the headquarters of the OAU, where he
assured Secretary-General Salim that the WCC shared his "deep
concern about the erosion of cohesion and solidarity among the
peoples of Africa in the age of globalisation.  The priority you
have given to the promotion of African Unity and the revival of a
spirit of Pan-Africanism on this continent is shared by the WCC's
African member churches who are eager to make their own
contributions".

The conversation with Salim centred on the need to improve
cooperation between the WCC and the OAU in addressing conflicts
in Africa, especially in Sudan and the Great Lakes Region. 
Raiser congratulated the OAU for its rapid progress in mobilising
cooperative efforts among African states through its new regional
Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution.

In response, Salim said, "We attach great importance to what the
WCC does in Africa.  We welcome your repeated insistence that the
most effective response to conflict in this region is an African
response.  Attempts to find military solutions have proved
fruitless in most cases.  It is only through negotiation under
African leadership that a sustainable peace can be found for this
continent.  Of course, we welcome and need the support of the
international community but, given the proliferation of peace
initiatives these days, coordination of efforts is essential, and
you can be assured of our cooperation with your own efforts in
this direction".

Earlier in the day, Raiser addressed the fifteenth General
Assembly of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus.  "We
give thanks to God for the movement of the Holy Spirit in your
midst", he told more than 500 delegates gathered from the various
regions of the country.  "Your dynamism is reflected in your
numerical growth", he said.  "I urge you to share it with the
worldwide WCC fellowship as the churches consider their common
understanding and their vision for the ecumenical movement as it
moves towards the next millennium."

**********
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.

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