wfn.org | Ecumenical bodies appeal for UN intervention in Kosovo

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Churches will support initiative to stop violence

GENEVA, 31 March 1999   Ecumenical organizations with headquarters
here have appealed to the United Nations (UN) to immediately initiate
efforts to reach a just and lasting peace in the Kosovo conflict.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Ishmael Noko,
World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary Konrad Raiser, and
the Conference of  European Churches (CEC) General Secretary Keith
Clements, supported by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC)
General Secretary Milan Opocensky, are calling for an immediate
moratorium of the NATO military intervention in order to allow for a
renewal of the political process under the leadership of the UN.

In a joint letter to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 29 March,
the leaders of the world church bodies express their conviction that
the UN "alone can offer a framework for a new initiative which can
break the present deadlock.

"The NATO-led intervention in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
manifests the failure of the international community to achieve a
credible, negotiated solution," the letter to Annan says in part.

In the letter to the UN secretary general, they also confirm on
behalf of their respective member churches,  their willingness to
back and support any intiative taken by "your Excellency to stop the
present acts of military violence and seek a non-violent resolution
of this conflict in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/