wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Living Letters team to visit Nigeria

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>World Council of Churches - News

>WCC LIVING LETTERS TEAM TO VISIT NIGERIA

>For immediate release: 10 May 2010

A Living Letters team of the World Council of Churches (WCC) will  pay a
solidarity visit to Nigeria from 15-20 May 2010.

The ecumenical team will visit one of the most conflict-affected  areas, in
and around the city of Jos in the Central Plateau  State, a region  where
several hundred people were killed in inter-ethnic clashes in recent
months.

They will also meet heads of churches in the capital city Abuja,  as well as
leading Muslim personalities involved in peace and reconciliation  efforts
in the country. Meetings with President Goodluck Jonathan and with  the
governor of the Central Plateau  State, Jonah Jang, are scheduled.

Nigeria is the most populous and largest oil-producing country of  Africa.
Since its independence, the country has gone through a succession  of
military and civilian regimes marked by corruption, violence, and  human
rights abuses. In 1999, elections brought back a more stable government.
Economically, Nigeria has remained a poor country, as the oil revenues
only benefit the ruling minority. For many years, the WCC has supported
the Ogoni people, indigenous to the oil-rich Niger Delta, in their
struggle against the exploitation and environmental degradation  caused by
oil companies.

During the past years, Nigeria has been affected by ethnic and religious
conflicts. Recent developments showed that social, economic, tribal  and
cultural causes were at the root of the tensions that erupted in  various
parts of the country. Poverty, corruption and mismanagement are  the
underlying factors that are fuelling conflicts, and sadly resulting  in
gross human rights violations.

Living Letters are small ecumenical teams visiting a country to  listen,
learn, share approaches and to help confront challenges in order  to
overcome violence and promote and pray for peace. They are organized  in
the context of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b6a7579aa6cdfec99786 )  as a 
preparation for
the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=40e6a2a91b215e4e0b3d )  in 2011.

The WCC Living Letters delegation to Nigeria will be composed of:
Bishop Dr Robert Aboagye-Mensah, vice-president of All Africa Conference  of
Churches (AACC), and member of the WCC Central Committee, Ghana;Rev.  Dr
Volker Faigle, Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD);Rev. Dr Johnson
Mbillah, general adviser, Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations  in
Africa (PROCMURA), Ghana/Kenya;Ms Mbari Kioni, director of advocacy  at the
AACC, Kenya;Archbishop Daniel Okoh, Organisation of African Instituted
Churches (OAIC), Nigeria;Mr Arne Saeveras, Norwegian Church Aid  (NCA),
Norway;Mr Jan Guehne, Mission 21, Switzerland/Germany/Nigeria;Ms  Outi
Vasko, Orthodox Church of Finland, WCC Central Committee and Executive
Committee member;Dr Mathews George Chunakara, director, Commission  of the
Churches on International Affairs,World Council of Churches;Dr Nigussu
Legesse, programme executive for Africa, World Council of Churches.

The WCC team will be joined by WCC Central Committee members from  Nigeria.

WCC member churches in Nigeria (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4afd20b30e613805fa6f )

WCC calls for security for all citizens of Nigeria (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=9e71c09f80413b4d2009
)

WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=adb98bf9a0e275901f25 )

International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=fb624ff3f5d18ad98c79 )

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.