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[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
13 September 1997

CENTRAL COMMITTEE     No.   4

WCC EXAMINES SHELL ROLE IN OGONILAND,  PEACE
MOVES IN SUDAN AND PLIGHT OF IRAQI CIVILIANS

Concern by the World Council of Churches (WCC) about human rights
and environmental damage in  the oil rich Ogoni region of Nigeria, which
has led to forthright dialogue with Shell International, returned to the top
of the WCC's agenda Friday (September 12), when the issue was
examined by its Central Committee, meeting in Geneva.

The WCC s public issues committee recommended a draft statement on
Ogoni for publication next week by the 156 strong Central Committee,
which meets yearly and governs the WCC between assemblies. 
Assemblies are held every seven years and the next will be at Harare,
Zimbabwe, in December 1998. 

During debate on the draft statement, a WCC staff person vigorously
defended the accuracy of its report "Ogoni   The Struggle Continues",
published last January, which had been challenged by Shell.   Rev.
Dwain Epps, coordinator of public affairs, said that the WCC had hired an
independent consultant to review its original report on Ogoniland and
Shell s response to it.

The consultant's report showed where the WCC's original document had
contained a few errors of fact, said Mr Epps, but in general,  "what we
have said seems to have been well confirmed by the independent
specialist".  The difference between the two reports was one of
perspective: "whether profit is the end goal or whether the well being of
the people is what is essential".  But the WCC accepted that Shell had
not intentionally meant to harm the Ogoni  people and had adopted new
business standards. 

Earlier, Dr Aaron Tolen (Presbyterian Church of Cameroon), moderator of
the public issues committee, accepted  that Shell s willingness to enter
into dialogue was positive.  "We welcome it and want to pursue it".

After the Central Committee session,  a WCC spokesman said the
consultant was an experienced and responsible researcher with a
record of scientific publications in serious journals, who specialized in
Nigerian human rights and the role of its oil industry.

The WCC has been involved with Ogoniland since an appeal to it in 1993
by the Ogoni leader and internationally celebrated writer Ken Saro Wiwa,
who was executed two years later.  In February 1996, the WCC sent a
fact finding team whose report began the exchange of views with Shell.
 Friday s draft statement also comments on wider Nigerian issues.  After
amendments have been implemented, the Central Committee  is expected
to confirm it on Wednesday, 17 September.
	 
The Committee is also expected to confirm statements and actions on the
civil strife in Sudan and the suffering endured by civilians in Iraq from the
United Nations sanctions.
	
Major progress has been made by churches in Sudan as they witness
for peace in a country where more than three million people have lost
their lives and five and a half million have been made refugees since the
savage war was rekindled in 1983. The Sudanese churches have
overcome the separation imposed on them by the fighting and have put
peace proposals to faction leaders in the south and the government in
the north.  Meanwhile the WCC continues its humanitarian relief work
through churches in the region.  
After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Seventh WCC Assembly in
Canberra  in 1991 welcomed the UN Security Council s demand for
withdrawal and supported trade sanctions, with the proviso that they did
not impinge on medical supplies and essential foodstuffs. Two years
ago, the Central Committee reiterated the need for  precise limits on the
purpose of sanctions and their  effect on citizens of a country "whose
policies they may be powerless to change".  The draft statement, to be
considered this time, points out that only a fraction of the needs of Iraqi
people are being met from the revenue from the recently implemented UN
Security Council "oil for food" resolution.  Most of the money, says the
draft statement, goes for defraying costs related to the Gulf War and the
maintenance of UN Observers in the country.
    

**********
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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