wfn.org | Religious Delegation to Leave Today for Belgrade

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

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contacts: Carol Fouke or Wendy McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
Stephanie Gadlin, Rainbow/PUSH, 773-256-2758
E-mail: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org

DEPARTURE NEWS CONFERENCE, RELIGIOUS MISSION TO BELGRADE
With Jesse Jackson (Rainbow/PUSH) & Joan Campbell (National 
Council of Churches)

7 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, Conference Room B, Dulles 
Airport (Main Terminal)

 Conference Room B is on the Lower Level, East End of 
the Main Terminal of Dulles Airport, Washington, D.C. (near 
the airport manager's office).  The entire delegation will 
be present; Jesse Jackson and Joan Campbell will speak.  
There will be plenty of photo opportunity ("departure 
shots").

  BACKGROUND:   The delegation of Christian, Muslim and 
Jewish religious leaders is pursuing its humanitarian 
mission to Belgrade, and will leave Wednesday following the 
news conference.  Led by the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell 
and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, it plans to deliver tape-
recorded messages from the families to the three captured 
U.S. soldiers and meet with Yugoslavian religious leaders. 
Yugoslavia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vladislav 
Jovanovic, has issued a written invitation to the delegation 
to visit the prisoners.

 The interreligious delegation includes Protestant, 
Roman Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Eastern Orthodox 
Christian religious leaders as well as one U.S. Congressman.  

 "This is a pilgrimage of faith, not of politics," said 
Rev. Jackson, Founder and President of the Rainbow/PUSH 
Coalition, based in Chicago.  "We go to Belgrade as 
religious leaders who are concerned about all who suffer in 
that region.  We also have been assured a visit with the 
three American soldiers captured and held by Yugoslav Army 
forces.  We will share our prayers for their safety and 
swift release."

"We plan to meet with religious leaders there, with 
whom we have long ties," said the Rev. Dr. Campbell, General 
Secretary, National Council of Churches.  "The breadth of 
our delegation reveals our deep concern as people of faith 
for the captured soldiers and for refugees and victims of 
violence on all sides.  Should we get to see the three 
soldiers, we are bringing along personal messages to them 
from their families as well as a Bible for each of them 
signed by the religious leaders in the delegation."

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