EUROPE: WCC urges peaceful resolution to Kenya, Pakistan, Gaza conflicts

By Jerry Van Marter, February 21, 2008 [Episcopal News Service, Geneva] While expressing cautious hope that the worst of the violence is over in Kenya, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has urged churches there to set aside partisanship and to promote a culture of dialogue that will help resolve long-standing tribal conflicts.

"The current constitution and certain government institutions appear to have been misused to meet partisan political interests rather than the interests and aspirations of ordinary Kenyans," the WCC's main governing body, its central committee, said in a statement agreed on February 19.

The WCC committee said the violence spawned by Kenya's disputed presidential elections on December 27 has roots that date back to the country's independence from Britain in 1963.

"Churches were among those implicated in the crisis, and...were 'unable to effectively confront these issues' because of partisanship," the central committee stated, quoting the National Council of Churches of Kenya.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu and a delegation from the WCC headed by Presbyterian Church (USA) leader the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick in January, have attempted to help mediate the conflict.

The WCC governing body applauded mediation efforts and it urged churches to build up interfaith collaboration and "a culture of dialogue," as well as to be "actively involved in programs of civic education and education for democracy, human rights and the dignity and equality of women and men."

In Pakistan, where the run-up to February 18 parliamentary elections was marred by violence, including the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the central committee praised the interfaith initiatives of the Church of Pakistan "to mobilize non-violent responses to acts of terrorism."

It urged an independent inquiry into Bhutto's assassination and called on the government of Pakistan to "ensure the safety and security of all political leaders."

Amid reports that opposition parties were winning Pakistan's parliamentary elections, the WCC governing body, at the request of Bishop Samuel Azariah of the Church of Pakistan, said it "welcomes the election recently concluded and the continuing development of democratic processes in Pakistan."

On Gaza, the WCC governing body called for "an immediate lifting of the blockade" imposed by Israel. Israel has said this is to put pressure on militant Palestinians to stop firing rockets into southern Israel.

"Rather than accept the isolation and punishment of Gaza, it is in the interests of all parties involved to work out the political reintegration of Gaza with the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory," the committee's statement said.

The statement condemned all attacks on civilians by both sides, and called on Israel to "fulfill its international obligations...under the Geneva Conventions." It urged WCC member churches to promote respect for international human rights and humanitarian law, to support the people of Gaza and to work for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

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