wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Bolivia: Include indigenous peoples, pleads Kobia

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World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 03/06/2005

BOLIVIA: FOR TRUE DEMOCRACY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES MUST BE INCLUDED, SAYS
KOBIA

The inclusion of Bolivia's "indigenous peoples in social and political
life" is one of the requisite steps "for the construction of meaningful
and true democracy" in the country, the World Council of Churches (WCC)
general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia affirmed in a letter to the
churches of Bolivia today, 3 June.

Referring to the ecumenical pastoral letter "Come to a common agreement",
sent this week by the Catholic archbishop of La Paz together with the
presidents and bishops of eleven Bolivian protestant and pentecostal
churches, Kobia expressed "his pain at the suffering of the Bolivian
people" but also his "joy at the confirmation that the churches have
united to speak with a prophetic voice at this difficult time".

Kobia recalled the biblical mandate to "work for an inclusive society in
which the most vulnerable and marginalised people, in biblical language
the poor, deserve special attention". And, in conjunction with the message
from the Bolivian Christian leaders, he emphasized that "the criteria
which must guide future actions" must be "the defense of life in all its
manifestations".

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 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, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.