wfn.org | Ivory Coast: WCC calls on churches, ECOWAS, to pursue efforts to prevent civil war

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release 02-27
For Immediate Use
15 October 2002

Ivory Coast: WCC calls on churches, ECOWAS, to pursue efforts to prevent
civil war

Alarmed by escalating hostilities in Ivory Coast, World Council of Churches
(WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser has encouraged WCC member
churches there to "do all in their power to prevent the conflict from
deteriorating into a civil war". 

Two letters - a 10 October WCC letter to Ivory Coast member churches, and a
second letter to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) -
note that the country, long "an example of political and social stability in
Africa" now seems "threatened by the curse of fragmentation and internal
oppositions fuelled by ethnic and religious divisions". While the WCC
reproves the rebel forces' attack on a democratically elected government,
Raiser suggests to both the churches and to ECOWAS that the primary
responsibility of all concerned is to resist the temptation to respond by
military action. 

In his letter to the churches, Raiser reminds them that rejecting violent
conflict, even when your adversary has taken up arms, is in the spirit of the
Decade to Overcome Violence, to which WCC member churches committed at their
last (1998) assembly in Zimbabwe.

Calling on the churches to facilitate ECOWAS efforts to promote a negotiated
solution, Raiser praises "the spirit of toleration and religious
reconciliation" evident in a joint declaration by Ivory Coast Roman Catholic
and Methodist church leaders; the declaration referred to mosques as well as
to churches. "There is a real danger of religion becoming another factor in
the conflict," Raiser warns. 

"The WCC joins you in your call to prayer and mobilization in favour of
peace," Raiser tells the churches. And concludes by encouraging them "to
analyse the underlying causes of the crisis, and to remedy these to the best
of your ability". 

His letter to ECOWAS expresses WCC support for its mediation efforts, and
encourages the organization to continue to seek ways of bringing the parties
to the negotiation table. It also informs ECOWAS of WCC efforts to assist its
Ivory Coast member churches to "promote dialogue and mutual understanding
between the various ethnic and religious communities, and to contribute to a
peaceful solution of the present conflict".

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office,   tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly, which
meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in
1948 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
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