wfn.org | NCC/CWS Calls For End of Bombing in Kosovo

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

37NCC3/25/99 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS UNIT COMMITTEE CALLS ON NATO TO CEASE BOMBING IN KOSOVO

 ATLANTA, March 25 ---- Addressing the dual moral
dilemma of a state attacking its own people and
international NATO forces attacking that state, the Church
World Service Unit Committee of the National Council of
Churches (NCC) is calling on NATO to cease the bombing in
Kosovo and for the United Nations Security Council to pursue
a peaceful settlement to the longstanding conflict.

 Church World Service (CWS) is the humanitarian
assistance ministry of the National Council of Churches
(NCCU), working in over 80 countries around the world in
disaster relief, human development, and refugee assistance.
The NCC is the nation's preeminent ecumenical organization,
comprised of 35 member communions to which 52 million people
belong.

The statement on Kosovo was adopted unanimously by the
CWS Unit Committee during its biannual meeting held this
time in Atlanta.  In presenting the proposed communiqu‚, Mia
Adjali, a United Methodist who chairs the NCC's
International Justice and Human Rights Committee and is a
member of  the CWS Unit Committee, emphasized the importance
of bringing the UN Security Council into the search for a
non-military solution to the conflict in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia.

Unit Committee members noted their disgust with the
repeated bragging of many in the U.S. about the capacities
of the new trillion dollar bomber, especially in light of
the $1.6 billion dollars owed by the U.S. to the United
Nations.

"To show that airplane over and over and say that it's
a weapon for peace, for Clinton to say that it's a bombing
for peace, is something we as Christians can't accept," Ms.
Adjali said.  "I feel like they are just testing weaponry."

 The full statement follows:

Statement on Kosovo
By the NCC's Church World Service and Witness Unit Committee
Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia
March 25, 1999

"Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called
the children of God." (Matthew 5:9)

The Unit Committee of Church World Service and Witness of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ meeting on
March 25, 1999 witnesses with horror the attacks by the
Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on its own
people and villages and the bombing in the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia (FRY) by NATO forces involving sizable
contingents of United States and British military personnel
and equipment.  The member communions of the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCC) seek to
be faithful to the call of God through Jesus Christ to
struggle for peace with justice.  The Church World Service
and Witness (CWSW) Unit Committee asks the General Secretary
of the NCCC to convey the following concerns to the
appropriate bodies.

The path to a negotiated, peaceful settlement of the
conflict has failed to this point due to a number of
circumstances including the following:
- Escalation of the level of violence and other violations
of human rights during this period;
- Failure to respect the role and involve the United
Nations in the negotiations; and
- Demands for an agreement to a peace settlement not
reached by consensus nor adequate representation of the
parties and peoples involved.

Peace in Kosovo and the FRY will be realized as the
residents are given the opportunity to engage in the
resolution of the issues which have become barriers to peace
with justice.  We stand with the people of good will in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who seek peace and
reconciliation.  No true resolution of the issues can be
achieved by the application of force.

We find hope in past meetings of representatives of the
religious bodies in Kosovo and urge continued support of the
efforts of religious leaders to seek reconciliation in
Kosovo.

We call upon CWSW and the NCCC through the office of the
General Secretary to communicate with the appropriate bodies
the following concerns:
" that NATO cease the bombing immediately;
" that the United Nations Security Council pursue
vigorously a peaceful settlement of the conflict and call
for a cease fire by all parties to the conflict to
provide time to search for such a settlement;
" that all humanitarian agencies, including Action by
Churches Together, increase efforts to meet the emergency
needs of all victims of the conflict and of the latest
attacks;
" that the NCCC member communions seek additional funding
for the humanitarian needs of all of the people in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;
" that the member communions continue their efforts to
address the moral and ethical imperatives of a
comprehensive common global security for the 21st century,
in cooperation with regional and international ecumenical
bodies, and
" that all people of faith pray for God's guidance and
forgiveness for all violence done, for all missed
opportunities to seek peace and for those persons who
face these days with fear.

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