wfn.org | Campaign For Debt Relief For Poor Gathers Momentum

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10-December-1998 
 
 
    Campaign For Debt Relief For Poor Gathers Momentum 
 
    by Stephen Brown 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
HARARE, Zimbabwe--The World Council of Churches (WCC) eighth assembly must 
make "a very strong statement" that the churches will not tolerate the 
level of debt of the world's poorest countries, according to Ann Pettifor, 
director of the Jubilee 2000 campaign. 
 
    Jubilee 2000 was founded in 1996 to campaign for the cancellation of 
unpayable Third World debt by the year 2000 to mark the start of the new 
millennium. Pettifor was speaking to ENI Dec. 8, as more than 300 
participants at the WCC assembly formed a human chain around the assembly's 
main conference venue, the Great Hall of the University of Zimbabwe, and 
chanted: "Cancel the debt." 
 
    The chain was organised by young people at the assembly, but delegates 
and visitors of all ages joined in, including bishops and other church 
leaders. 
 
    The issue of debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries is a 
priority for many member churches of the WCC. Many church leaders, 
particularly in Africa and Latin America, support the idea. 
 
    In his speech to the assembly yesterday, 8 December, Zimbabwe's 
president, Robert Mugabe, called on the WCC to use "its moral authority to 
appeal to the powerful nations of the West to agree to write off debts of 
Third World nations." The WCC's assembly, which opened in Zimbabwe's 
capital Harare, on 3 December, is expected to make a statement on 12 
December about the debt crisis. 
 
    Pettifor said that church leaders had to take "real leadership" on the 
issue of debt relief for the world's poorest countries. "The churches have 
to come out in solidarity with these people, because right now debt is 
killing billions of people," Pettifor said. 
 
    Referring to Harare newspaper reports that more 1000 paupers a month 
are being buried in paupers graves in Zimbabwe because their families 
cannot afford the burials, she said that such deaths were "largely because 
of the lending and borrowing system of the West, which has resulted in high 
levels of debt and economic degradation." 
 
    The WCC's Harare assembly marks the jubilee of its foundation in 1948, 
an anniversary which is being celebrated during the assembly. But, Pettifor 
said, the "real jubilee celebration ... can only come about when we have 
[fulfilled] the [biblical] jubilee commandment that debts should be 
canceled by the year 2000. And so far the WCC has been a little bit slow in 
coming forward, a little bit slow in taking leadership on this issue." 
 
    But speaking at a press conference yesterday, the WCC's general 
secretary, Dr. Konrad Raiser, dismissed as incorrect from "beginning to 
end" a press release by Jubilee 2000 which described Africa's foreign debt 
a "taboo issue" at the WCC assembly. Dr. Raiser said that the WCC was in 
"broad sympathy" with Jubilee 2000, and that he regretted the statement 
"which disturbs our relationship." 
 
    Estimates of the unpayable external debt of the world's poorest 
countries reach up to US$250 billion. Some Africa countries spend four 
times as much servicing debt each year as they do on health care for their 
citizens. According to figures released by organizations campaigning for 
debt relief, for every US$1 given in development aid, US$3 goes back to 
rich countries in debt-service payments. 
 
    Since its launch in Britain in 1996, Jubilee 2000 had spread to 40 
countries, "thanks largely to the churches,"  Pettifor said. 
 
    Among those taking part in the human chain, Alice Kirambi, a Quaker 
from Nairobi, told ENI that if the debts of the poorest countries were 
canceled, the funds released should "be rechannelled into the social 
services [and] into good government." 
 
    "There should be no corruption, the governments have to be accountable 
to the people," she said. 
 
    Kirambi, a member of the Friends' Yearly Meeting in Kenya, said her 
organization, Christian Partners Development Agency, had launched Jubilee 
2000 in Kenya in July this year. It was now working through the media in 
"creating awareness" about debt cancellation. 
 
    Jubilee 2000 is trying to collect  more than 21 million signatures for 
a global petition - which would be  the world's biggest petition - to be 
presented to next year's Group of Seven (G7) summit of the world's leading 
industrialized countries, to be held in Cologne, Germany. 
 
    At this year's G7 meeting, in Birmingham, England, more than 50,000 
demonstrators formed a human chain which stretched for 11 kilometers (seven 
miles) around the city center. 
 
    A human chain was being organised for the Cologne meeting, Pettifor 
said, "and for those people who can't get to Cologne, we're going to take 
their signatures, so we're calling on churches around the world to gather 
signatures for the Jubilee 2000 petition." 
 
      Dr. Clement Janda, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of 
Churches (AACC), today gave his support to the Jubilee 2000 campaign. 
Speaking at a press conference at the WCC assembly he said that he was 
"pleasantly surprised" that President Mugabe called for debt relief during 
his speech to the assembly. Many African leaders were afraid to address the 
problem, he said. "They know where they have stacked up their money and are 
afraid to lift up their heads because they know they are part of the 
problem." 
 
    Referring to reports that the external debt of several countries in 
Central America had been canceled after devastation by Hurricane Mitch, Dr. 
Janda said: "Should we also invite Hurricane Mitch to come to Africa before 
we can be taken seriously? How many children do you need to see die before 
you can see the economic devastation caused by debt?"  

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