wfn.org | All Africa News Agency Mar 31 03 (c)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

AANA BULLETIN No. 12/03 March 31, 2003 (c)

ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY

P. O Box, 66878, 00800 Westlands, NAIROBI, Kenya.  Tel: 254-2-4442215,
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AANA Bulletin	- Acting  Editor -Elly Wamari				     
  
Bulletin APTA - Acting Editor - Silvie Alemba

Noko Urges Church Leaders  To Condemn  Implanted Rule

NAIROBI (AANA) March 31 - The General Secretary of Lutheran World 
Federation (LWF), Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, has challenged church leaders in 
Africa to speak out against the culture of implanted leadership, that has 
been the trend in the continent.

In an interview with AANA on March 25, Rev. Noko underlined the need to 
draw a distinction between "hereditary" and electoral leadership in African 
political context.

"A culture of 'hereditary' leadership is most likely to engage in corrupt 
deals and selfishness," he said, adding that this was the reason old crop 
of leaders were being subjected to indictment after retirement.

He described democratic elections as a "new norm in Africa," adding, "we 
should work on that, and religious communities must have the boldness to 
speak about it."  He went on: "If we don't, a culture of lack of change in 
leaders will continue."

Speaking about the war on Iraq, Rev Noko described it as undemocratic. He 
regretted that pressure was being put on small countries to support the 
US-led battle.

He cited the US$ 15 billion promised to African nations to fight HIV/AIDS, 
which he said, would now probably be distributed according to sides taken 
by various countries. (see related story on page 9)

Rev Noko was in Nairobi to attend LWF Africa region pre-assembly 
consultations held March  23-26.

The meeting was to prepare LWF member churches in the continent for LWF's 
Tenth Assembly scheduled for July in Canada. The theme of the assembly is 
For The Healing Of The World.

Reported by Joyce Mulama

LWF Boss Expresses Fears Over US-Led War On Iraq

NAIROBI (AANA) March 31 - The United States-led war against Iraq could have 
been avoided, as there were sufficient possibilities for the United Nations 
weapons' inspectors to continue to do an effective job, declared the 
General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Rev Dr Ishmael 
Noko last week.

According to Rev Noko, the on-going war against Iraq not only divides the 
world into a "coalition of the willing" and "unwilling," but also splits 
Europe into an "old" and "new" Europe.

The war against Iraq is undermining everything the LWF has been trying to 
do for years. Peace, reconciliation and dialogue are being threatened, Rev 
Noko emphasised.

The general secretary expressed concern that the system of collective 
security in the UN was being weakened, putting at risk all that has been 
accomplished since the end of World War II.

Rev Noko was addressing 110 representatives of LWF member churches 
attending a March 23-26 Africa Pre-Assembly Consultation (PAC), held here 
jointly with an All Africa Lutheran Leadership Conference, a meeting of 
leaders of LWF member churches on the continent.

The African conference is the fourth of five regional conferences in the 
run-up to the July 21-31  Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, to be hosted by the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. The main purpose of regional PACs is 
to prepare delegates for the assembly.

Around 1,000 participants are expected at the Assembly, which is LWF's 
highest decision-making body, meeting every six years.

Reported by Pauline Mumia
Lutheran World Information

Authorities Move To Contain Crimean-Congo Viral Fever

NOUAKCHOTT (AANA) March 31 - Thirty people have been reported dead in 
Mauritania, following an outbreak of a contagious viral fever known as 
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhage Fever (CCHF).

This is according to figures released by the health ministry here on March 8.

Confirming the outbreak, reports from Mauritania authorities and Institut 
Pasteur (a World Health Organisation (WHO) research centre in Dakar, 
Senegal) indicate that the most affected regions are Trarza, Brakna and 
Hodh Gharbi, to the east of Nouakchott.

A steering committee composed of officials from the Ministry of Health, WHO 
representatives and partners from the public sector has been established to 
contain the fever.

Comprising doctors and researchers from the health ministry, as well as 
experts from Institut Pasteur, the team has been trying to come up with a 
more effective way of detecting outbreaks.

CCHF is a viral haemorrhage fever, endemic in a number of African , 
European and Asian countries.

In 2001, cases were revealed in Kosovo, Albania, Iran, Pakistan and South 
Africa.

The infection was first reported in 1944 in Crimea (in Ukraine) as the name 
implies.

Its mortality rate is usually very high, especially in livestock.  The 
virus is transmitted by ticks.

Reported by Claire Mbombo

Paramount Chief Lashes Out At White Community

MAUN (AANA) March 31 - A Botswana traditional leader, Paramount Chief Kgosi 
Tawana II, has taken a swipe at white people, whom he has accused of 
corruption and discrimination.

Chief Tawana is the chairperson of the country's 15-member House of Chiefs.

He said recently at a public meeting in Maun, a resort town in 
north-western Botswana, that there were significant differences between the 
rich and the poor in the area, which he attributed to discrimination.

He at the same time lambasted "South African whites" for ill-treating black 
Batswana employees.

"South African white business owners are discriminating against the 
blacks," he said amid cheers from a crowd of over 5000 people who had 
thronged Maun Stadium.

He complained that taking of bribes by land boards in order to give white 
South Africans first preference in allocation of commercial and residential 
plots, encouraged the problem.

"Land boards are giving the best plots for commercial and residential 
purposes to whites, leaving Batswana beggars in their own land," said Chief 
Tawana.

This was not the first time he was lashing out at white people. Following 
an earlier attack on "whites", at a meeting of Tawana Land Board earlier 
this month, there have been growing protests from Botswana-born white 
people and citizens that his remarks could spark off racism in the country.

He was speaking to new members of the land board, when he again said that 
corruption within land boards had resulted in Batswana losing the best 
commercial land to whites, because past members believed that "talking to 
whites is great".

Reported by Rodrick Mukumbira

BOOK  REVIEW

Critical Analysis Of Church Views On Poverty, Wealth

Title - Christianity, Poverty And Wealth
Volume: 98 pages
Author: Michael Taylor
Foreword: Rev. Dr. Konrad Raiser, General Secretary, World Council of
Churches
Copyright: WCC Publications
Publisher: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Holy Trinity Church, 
London.
Year of Publication: 2003
Printer: Anthony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire
Reviewer: Osman Njuguna

Even though the issue of poverty and wealth have been discussed in many 
forums for many years, the Church is said not to have been as articulate in 
the past as today.

In the book under review, General Secretary of the World Council of 
Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr. Konrad Raiser, observes that ecumenical 
discussions have began to focus attention on the hidden links between 
poverty and wealth.

Rev Raiser argues in the book's Foreward, that just as it has become common 
to speak of a "poverty line", there should be a limit beyond which 
accumulation of wealth becomes greed and is no longer ethically and 
socially acceptable. This, he underscores, would mean calling for an 
"economy of enough".

He notes that even though the biblical tradition is much more explicit 
about excessive wealth and the ways it can corrupt human community, 
Christians have been reluctant to address ethical and spiritual issues 
related to wealth.

But, he points out, geo-political changes during the last decade of the 
twentieth century and the accelerating process of economic globalisation, 
have obliged churches and ecumenical organisations to rethink the 
principles, objectives and methodologies guiding their participation in 
development matters.

The book has tackled the subject under eight distinctive topics.  They are 
Poverty and Wealth; Causes; The Teaching of the Churches; Overcoming 
Poverty; The Actions of the Churches; Recommendations; Combating Poverty 
and Greed and The Story of "Project 21".

The book is a compilation of findings of a 'Project 21', a study initiated 
by the Association of World Council of Churches related Development 
Organisations in Europe (APRODEV), in consultation with the World Council 
of Churches.

The author, Michael Taylor, is the director of World Faiths Development 
Dialogue and Professor of Social Theology at the University of Birmingham 
in United Kingdom (UK).

The purpose of Project 21 was to carry out a research through case studies 
in 24 countries across the world, to establish how best churches, their 
organisations and agencies could respond to poverty and wealth in the early 
years of the 21st Century.

The book recommends that poor people and countries should be the "subjects" 
and not "objects" of the struggle for justice.

It states that the poor should not be dictated to but respected and 
supported in tackling poverty and inequality in ways they believe are best.

According to the book, local church congregations should not be by-passed 
or underestimated by church organisations in their efforts to combat both 
poverty and greed.

They should instead be strengthened and renewed to be full participants, 
the author recommends.

The book, which is formatted in easy-to-read print, illustrates various 
case studies on the subject. The style deliberately avoids presentation of 
statistics in order to allow the voices of the people to come through.

The book then draws conclusions.  Among them include a number that strongly 
project the need for unified church action against poverty.

The South African study, for example, concludes,  "We must develop a 
unified view and perspectives of the current trend of economic 
globalisation and global co-operation.

"The Worldwide ecumenical family needs to offer a unified action to the 
problem of poverty. It can no longer be seen as a problem of the poor alone".

On Ghana's case study, the book states: "Churches may also encourage the 
well-to-do among their members to help as many poor people as they can as 
to bring the modern church close to the Nature of the New Testament Church, 
where they had all their things in common such that there was no one in
need".

On Uganda, the book says, "the world-wide ecumenical family of churches 
should contribute towards poverty reduction not only by exposing the unfair 
practices of multinational companies but also the unfair trade between the 
developed west and the developing world.

Reviewed by Osman Njuguna