wfn.org | CWS Peace Delegation In Guinea

["Natl Council of Churches/Church World Service News"]

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE PEACE DELEGATION
IN GUINEA: BRINGING ATTENTION TO
WEST AFRICAN CRISIS

Tells Regions Leaders, Churches Playing A Vital Role

Conakry, Republic of Guinea, West Africa --Sat 7/6/02-- The Mano River
countries of West Africa continue to struggle with affronts to basic human
rights and needs. Escalating civil conflicts and streams of refugees
crossing borders are taxing the capacities of neighboring countries, But
Church World Service is determined to bring international attention and
greater assistance to the region.

In Guinea this past week, first stop of a four-nation West African tour, an
eight-member, ecumenical CWS delegation joined with the six-month-old
Christian Council of Guinea for meetings with government leaders, UN refugee
officials, and partner NGOs.

CWS is telling leaders of each of the Mano River Unions countries of the
churches vital role in ensuring services and support for the people of West
Africa.

Now in Gambia, July 6-9, and then traveling to Sierra Leone and Liberia, the
delegation issued a parting statement to Guinean President Lansana Conti,
Saturday (7/6), saying Church World Service had come as an expression of a
larger ecumenical movement which is deeply concerned about the crisis of
civil disturbance and the plight of the peoples of West Africa who feel that
their basic human rights are severely compromised by this sub-regional
conflict.

As Sierra Leone Ambassador to the U.S. John F. Leigh said in a letter
welcoming the upcoming CWS delegation, If there is any region in the world
that needs healing, West Africa is that region. The trip marks CWS
expanding commitment to Africa.

Church World Service Executive Director the Rev. John L. McCullough says,We
re in West Africa for three reasons:first, to be in solidarity with the
Christian Councils of each country, whom we hold as a voice on behalf of the
larger ecumenical community.

The second reason, says McCullough, is to draw greater international
attention to the regions conflicts and the urgent need for increased
humanitarian assistance, economic stimulus, and relief of the burden of debt
that makes adequate standards of living virtually impossible for these
countries.

The delegations third purpose, McCullough explains, is to prepare Church
World Service for an education and advocacy strategy intended to better
inform American Christians of the regions needs and their ability to help.

Church World Services advocacy strategy, McCullough said, is also aimed at
influencing American foreign policy concerning the allocation of foreign
aid to the sub-region.

In Guinea, one in eight is a refugee

McCullough notes that Many Guineans can only afford only one meal a day.
Unemployment is high; pay is low. And in that country of seven million
people, now one in eight is a refugee, putting enormous pressure on the
populace.

Since January, renewed fighting in Liberia has driven some 18,000 new
refugees into Guinea..  As of the end of June 2002, refugee camps in Guinea
were accommodating nearly 37,000 refugees, most of them Liberians.

CWS delegate the Rev. Benjamin Musoke-Lubega, partnership officer for Africa
of the Episcopal Church in the US, says, During our visit in Conakry, (the
capital of Guinea), we heard that several thousand people had crossed over
from Liberia just last week.

Christians comprise only about 15% of Guineas predominately Muslim
population. The six-month-old Christian Council of Guinea represents the
countrys Protestants, Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

Church Council head Bishop Albert David Gomez, serving as host of the CWS
delegation to West Africa, told the group that when conflicts in Sierra
Leone and Liberia drove the first wave of thousands to safety across the
regions relatively permeable borders, Guineans opened their arms and
absorbed the refugees into their homes and lives.

Guinean people strained but still sharing meager resources with wave of
refugees

But relationships now are more strained. In September 2000 a cross-border
attack from Sierra Leone raised anti-immigrant sentiment.  Conditions,
says McCullough, are at a crisis point. And yet the Guinean people are
still sharing.

CWS delegate the Rev. Canon Benjamin Musoke-Lubega, Episcopal Church in the
United States, is a member of the Worldwide Anglican Communion and
partnership officer for Africa. Musoke-Lubega says a lot more sharing is
needed from other sources.

UNICEF, UN budgets for West Africa at crisis levels

In its series of meetings with the Guinean church council, with UNICEF, and
the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the
advocacy group learned, says Musoke-Lubega, that there is a real budget
crisis.

Half way through their budget year, explains Musoke-Lubega, UNICEF can
only be sure of about 30 percent of the funds it needs. But, he says, its
worse for UNHCR here. What theyve gotten in cash and pledges so far this
year is just $7 or $8 million, against a $27 million budget.

Theyre scrambling just to get shelter and food for people, he says. They
ve declared a low-level emergency concerning this new influx of Liberian
refugees.

McCullough says the U.S. is doing its part, although the U.S. can put
further pressure on other nations such as England, Germany, and Japan. And
the U.S. could make special contributions.

The church, says the CWS delegation, is also doing its part. The Guinean
council is part of a larger, worldwide ecumenical movement, says
McCullough, that plays a vital role in advocating for and serving these
crisis areas and in supporting refugee issues.

Thats why the Guinean church council attended all of the governmental, UN
and NGO meetings we attended here, he added. Church World Services wants
Mano River regional governments, the UN, and area NGOs to see the church as
an important player for the good of society.

During the delegations meeting in Guinea with the UN refugee office, CWS
Deputy Director of Programs Kirsten Laursen described how Church World
service manages the refugee processing offices in Accra and Nairobi for the
U.S. State Department, working hand in hand with the UN to help with refugee
resettlement.

CWS urges U.S. to take fair share of Mano River refugees

CWS is advocating for the U.S. to take its fair share of refugees from the
Mano River region. Were concerned, says Laursen, that since 9/11, there
has been only a trickle of refugees. Were working with our government, she
says, to have them meet their quotas.

Here in Guinea, she told the UN office, the Christian Council are your
partners concerning refugees, and they are your contacts with the larger
ecumenical communitys capacities worldwide.

In French-speaking Guinea, as in the regions other countries, says CWS
delegate and media liaison Carol Fouke-Mpoyo, the churches are right in the
fray, working cooperatively in an interfaith way, reaching out to serve
people.

One night, she tells, we went to an international Protestant Evangelical
church, where people from all countries were worshipping together, singing
hymns in French and English.  I can see here how important the church is,
she says. If youre a stranger in a strange land, how important the church
is as the center for social survival.

In Guinea, the church groups take soap, extra food and clothing to nearby
refugee camps, visit the sick in hospitals, and bring food and clothing to
prisoners.

In September 2000, Sierra Leoneans attacked a refugee camp and community,
driving four or five thousand refugees out of the camp to the Sierra Leone
embassy in Conakry. There was no way the embassy could take in that many
people, recounts Fouke-Mpoyo.

She was told that the people camped out in the street,  but the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees office said it couldnt be responsible for people
s safety outside of the refugee camps.

Across from the embassy is a Catholic school that was in session, she
tells. The school took in four thousand refugees and accommodated them on
its grounds until the UN could make arrangements. The church pushed the
envelope, she says.  Until recently, the Catholic Church in Conakry managed
the Kimbia Refugee Camp, then turned it over to the UNHCR, Doctors Without
Borders and other NGOs.

Guinean Muslims, Christians: working together

Even though in the minority in Guinea, the Christian churches are serving
the whole of the society, working in collaboration with Muslims there. After
the September 2000 attacks, Muslim and Christian women joined together in a
service of prayer for peace.

There is a lot of religious intermarriage here, says Fouke-Mpoyo. Many
Muslims send their children to Christian school in Guinea because of the
quality of education.

Guineas Bishop Gomez: the church has to speak out

Guinean church council leader Bishop Gomez explains that the church in
Guinea is not aspiring to politics. But when it sees someone hungry, it has
to go to the government and say, people are hungry.

When it sees people are sick, that AIDS is spreading, he says,  the
church has to stand up and say, people need health care. When it sees
people dont have access to education, we need to stand up and say, people
have a right to an education.

CWS delegation having immediate effect

Bishop Gomez remarks that Church World Services being here has already
made a big, positive difference. Right after the delegations meeting with
the UN refugee office, a Catholic woman educator reported that the UN people
sought her out to discuss more ways they could collaborate.

 Gomez told the departing CWS delegation, Your visit has given us un
nouveau souffle, a second wind.

CWS delegation members include McCullough (United Methodist Church), of
Montclair, New Jersey; Musoke-Lubega (Episcopal Church, New York City);
Fouke-Mpoyo (Media Liaison, National Council of the Churches of Christ USA
and Church World Service); Senior Advisor to the CWS Executive Director
Victor Hsu (Presbyterian Church USA); CWS Deputy Director of Programs
Kirsten Laursen (The Episcopal Church); Associate Director, CWS Mission
Relationships and Witness Program, Moses Ole Sakuda (Presbyterian Church
USA) the Rev. Philip Reed, Missionaries of Africa (Roman Catholic), of
Washington, D.C.; and Susan Sanders (United Church of Christ), of Cleveland,
Ohio.

					###
CONTACT:		Jan Dragin, Boston/New York
			Phone: (781) 925-1526
			Fax: (781) 925-2311
			e-mail: jdragin@gis.net

			Carol Fouke-Mpoyo - media liaison with delegation
			e-mail: cjfm10@hotmail.com