WCC NEWS: WEA and WCC speak with a common voice on Sudan

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World Council of Churches - News

WCC AND WEA SPEAK WITH A COMMON VOICE ON SUDAN

For immediate release: 11 November 2010

The leaders of the World Council of Churches and World Evangelical
Alliance came together recently to say their organizations and member
churches are speaking with a common voice when it comes to the January
2011 referendum in Sudan.


They said the referendum, which will be held 9 January 2011 and 
determines
whether Southern Sudan remains part of Sudan or not, should be held 
on the
date promised, be free and fair, and the results accepted by all 
parties.
The referendum is being viewed as a critical point in Sudanese 
history and
is the promised outcome of a 2005 Naivasha Agreement between the 
Khartoum
central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army or Movement
after years of war.

In a joint interview last week, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general 
secretary
of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, CEO 
and
secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), said it was
time to call on religious and political leaders in Africa and around 
the
world to assure a free and fair referendum and for all to abide by the
results.


They also stressed the importance of supporting the Sudanese people in
southern Sudan as they make their decision on the future of south 
Sudan.
Tveit spoke of a recent meeting with Muslim and Christian leaders and
scholars who said the election cannot be viewed as a point of tension
between Muslim and Christian. Tunnicliffe said the WEA is calling for 
a
day of prayer for Sudan on 5 December.


Both leaders pointed out that there are hundreds of thousands of 
Christians
living in northern Sudan who could be impacted by the outcome of the
referendum. But there are also million others, both Christian and 
Muslim,
who remain internally displaced from the war and others living in 
volatile
and disputed areas of the country that could be impacted if the 
referendum
is delayed or the results not accepted.


“We have come to a point where we need to say the people of the Sudan
have suffered enough and the people of Sudan must have the right 
through
democratic processes to define and decide their own future,” Tveit 
said
in the interview.


“And the people of Sudan should not now be the battlefield between
religious actors or political actors in that region of the world,” he
added.

“We have both been there and we’ve listened to the church leaders, and
to underscore the fact that for 50 years Sudan has suffered greatly, 
we
believe that the people of Sudan need a better way,” Tunnicliffe said.


“The reality is that 5 years ago when the peace agreement was finally
signed and the agreement for the referendum was agreed upon as 
mechanism
for the peace accord, we are saying we fully support and get behind 
the
need for the referendum to take place,” Tunnicliffe added.


While the two organizations will not be issuing a joint statement on 
Sudan,
they believe the need for speaking with a common voice is a vital 
step in
bringing the situation of Sudan to the attention of the world as well 
as
their own churches. Both recently issued separate but similar 
statements
on Sudan.
Between them the WCC and WEA represent the vast majority of the 
world’s
Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Evangelical churches with a 
combined
constituency in the hundreds of millions people if not close to a 
billion
people around the globe.


The WCC has 349 member churches representing some 550 million 
Christians.
The WEA is a network of 129 churches worldwide represents some 600 
million
evangelical Christians. Some WEA churches are also members of the WCC.
Both leaders are concerned that while the situation in Sudan is on the
radar screen of most political leaders, they want to remind them of 
their
obligations to keep the referendum on track. Without this “we are 
going
to face an ongoing huge problem with conflict, not just in Sudan, but 
in
the region,” Tunnicliffe said.


At the same time they want to engage not only churches but Muslim 
leaders
in making certain the referendum is successful, no matter the outcome.
During a recent Muslim-Christian consultation held at the WCC 
headquarters
in Geneva (1-4 November) and sponsored by the WCC, the World Islamic 
Call
Society and the Consortium of A Common Word, some 60 Christian and 
Muslim
leaders and scholars referenced Sudan as part of their final 
conference
statement saying, “It is important that these tensions not be seen as
being between Muslims and Christians.”


“For average Christians in our community they know very little about
Sudan so how do we make sure we get that message out there so we can 
be
praying and supporting what’s taking place there,” Tunnicliffe said.

To that end, WEA is calling “for a global day of prayer on 5 December
where we will provide prayer resources,” Tunnicliffe said. “On that
Sunday churches around the world can pray for the upcoming referendum 
and
the people of Sudan.”


“I hope this is a time when we can unite in this prayer and I commend
that the WEA has made this effort to prepare these prayers and can 
only
recommend that this will happen with the member churches of the WCC as
well,” Tveit said.


Both organizations have been involved in Sudan for decades. The Sudan
Council of Churches has recently invited WEA to place monitors on the
ground during the referendum, according to Tunnicliffe. The WEA has 
also
worked in Sudan through relief and development activities.


The WCC continues to work with the Sudan Council of Churches, the All
Africa Conference of Churches and the Sudan Ecumenical Forum. Former 
WCC
general secretary, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, who has been appointed by the
ecumenical partners as a special ecumenical envoy for Sudan, has been
leading the regional effort of the churches by working with the Sudan
government, Muslim and Christian leaders, the African Union (AU), the
former South African President Thabo Mbeki who is currently the AU 
envoy
to Sudan, the leadership of the Intergovernmental Authority on
Development, the Troika countries and the Arab League to make certain 
the
referendum remains on time and free and fair.


Several decades ago the WCC in cooperation with the All Africa 
Conference
of Churches (AACC) actively engaged in mediation with the South Sudan
Liberation Movement and the government of Sudan that led to the 1972 
Addis
Ababa peace agreement.


WEA statement and prayers for Sudan (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f8d8ff26bfc5a7ecf773 )


Final statement of the international Christian-Muslim consultation
“Transforming Communities” (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ac591acea577d6777816
)


WCC member churches in Sudan (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=06e2012f3f0abc5f30ce )


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.



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