WCC executive committee calls for international peace force and investigation of war crimes in Darfur

by Juan Michel
WCC Information Service

SEOUL —The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee has issued a statement from its Aug. 24-27 meeting here deploring the ongoing humanitarian disaster and forced displacement of civilians in Western Sudan.

      The WCC body — which includes the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) — also urged the African Union and the United Nations to provide for an international peace-keeping force, the investigation of war crimes, and the full deployment of independent observers to monitor the ceasefire and human rights in the region.

      “The ethnic cleansing which has taken place in Darfur must be reversed before it takes on the proportions of genocide,” stated WCC director of International Affairs, Peter Weiderud.

      According to the United Nations, at least 50,000 people have died in 18 months of violence blamed on pro-government militia-men. Nearly two million Sudanese have been displaced by the violence, internally and into neighboring Chad.

      Reacting to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the WCC executive committee “urged the government of Sudan to protect its civilian population and to disarm the pro-government militia,” and called on all parties to work for peace and reconciliation.

      The committee lauded the international mobilization of churches and related agencies in support of peace, reconciliation and rehabilitation efforts in Sudan.

      The statement came as fresh peace talks between the warring parties are held in Nigeria. The WCC has been at the forefront of international ecumenical efforts to reach a lasting peace in the country. Sudan has been plagued by war almost constantly since independence in 1956, and in 2002 appointed a special ecumenical envoy, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, subsequently elected WCC general secretary, to accompany the peace negotiations there.

      The full text of the WCC executive committee’s statement on Sudan is available on the website: www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/korea-sudan.html