wfn.org | WCC UPDATE: Kobia in Haiti: from dislocation to reconciliation

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

World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 08/08/2005

KOBIA INVITES HAITI TO MOVE FROM DISLOCATION
TO RECONCILIATION AND DIGNITY
Free photos available - see below

Haitians should work together to build a new and alternative nation, World
Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia told
church leaders and members during an ecumenical service at the Methodist
Church of Port-au-Prince on Sunday 7 August.

The challenge, according to Kobia, is to move from "dislocated communities" and fear to reconciliation and dignity. "We are called to work to
transform Haiti [*] from a violent to a peaceful state," Kobia said.

In an earlier (5 August) meeting with Haiti's interim president Boniface
Alexandre at the presidential palace, Kobia promised that Haiti's "serious
problems" would be on the agenda of the Council's forthcoming assembly in
Porto Alegre, Brazil, in February 2006.

WCC member churches would be consulted in order to determine how best they
and the Council can support Haiti's transition to democracy and help end
the pervasive cycle of violence and poverty in the country, Kobia said.
The Caribbean nation is the poorest in the Americas.

Responding to the president's invitation to WCC to help monitor presidential elections scheduled for 7 February 2006, "We are aware of your efforts
and ready to offer our assistance," Kobia said.

Accompanying the WCC general secretary during his meeting with the
president were Protestant Federation of Haiti (FPH) general secretary Mr
Édouard Paultre and other church leaders. The Protestant Federation of
Haiti (FPH) is an associate council of the WCC.

Later the same day, Kobia met with representatives of Haiti's churches and
non-governmental organizations to discuss the WCC's Decade to Overcome
Violence 2001-2010: Churches seeking reconciliation and peace.

Also on Kobia's agenda in Haiti were a visit to a church-related social
project in Port-au-Prince, and an encounter with church leaders and civil
society representatives to discuss the WCC, the 9th Assembly, and
ecumenical solidarity with Haiti.

Additional information about the WCC visit to the Caribbean is available
in our press update:
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-05-23.html
and in our July 28 press release:
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-05-42.html

Photos from the visit to the Caribbean are available on the WCC website
at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/photo-galleries/travel/caribbean/cubavisit2005.html

This material may be reprinted freely.

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.