wfn.org | Crisis in Balkans is not religious: delegation

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 1, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-21-71B{308}

NOTE: This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #307. The Rev. Wilfried Nausner
of Austria, mentioned in the main story, is not to be confused with the Rev.
Wilhelm Nausner mentioned below.

By United Methodist News Service

An ecumenical delegation that recently visited Albania and Macedonia finds
the crisis in the Balkans "is not a religious conflict."

The delegation was sponsored by the World Council of Churches and Conference
of European Churches in cooperation with the Lutheran World Federation.

After meeting with church leaders and staff of ecumenical agencies and
visiting refugee camps during the May 17-25 trip, the delegation pointed out
that any solution to the conflict must recognize its complexity.

It also noted the regional impact of the war and the need to respond to
local needs in Albania and Macedonia as well as to the needs of refugees.

Delegation members were Wilhelm Nausner, a United Methodist based in Linz,
Austria; Antonios Papantoniou, Church of Greece; Sylvia Raulo, Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Finland; and Elizabeth Ferris, WCC International
Relations. Alessandro Spanu, Protestant Churches in Italy, joined the
delegation in Albania.

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