wfn.org | WCC NEWS: WCC urges Ethiopian government to stop military

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

World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 07/11/2005

WCC ASKS FOR HALT TO MILITARY ACTION AGAINST THE PEOPLE IN ETHIOPIA

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Samuel Kobia has called
on the Ethiopian government "to exercise utmost restraint and bring to an
immediate halt the military action against the people and release the
political prisoners as soon as possible".

In a letter sent last Friday to Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi,
Kobia expresses "great sadness" for the "death of many Ethiopians
following demonstrations and riots in Addis Ababa", and warns that
"further military action against the people is an escalation of violence
and will further damage the political climate and make dialogue even less
possible".

Kobia met Zenawi last September when visiting the WCC member churches in
the country, and expressed his conviction that "honest dialogue with the
opposition" was needed. After his visit, he wrote to the leadership of the
Coalition for Unity and Democracy and the United Ethiopian Democratic
Forces with the same appeal "to resolve the political impasse through
dialogue".

The full text of the letter is available at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/ethiopia-letter05.html

See also our Press Release of 3 October 2005
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-05-27.html

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.