Ivory Coast: WCC calls on churches, ECOWAS, to pursue efforts to prevent civil war

Alarmed by escalating hostilities in Ivory Coast, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser has encouraged WCC member churches there to "do all in their power to prevent the conflict from deteriorating into a civil war".

Two letters - a 10 October WCC letter to Ivory Coast member churches, and a second letter to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) - note that the country, long "an example of political and social stability in Africa" now seems "threatened by the curse of fragmentation and internal oppositions fuelled by ethnic and religious divisions". While the WCC reproves the rebel forces' attack on a democratically elected government, Raiser suggests to both the churches and to ECOWAS that the primary responsibility of all concerned is to resist the temptation to respond by military action.

In his letter to the churches, Raiser reminds them that rejecting violent conflict, even when your adversary has taken up arms, is in the spirit of the Decade to Overcome Violence, to which WCC member churches committed at their last (1998) assembly in Zimbabwe.

Calling on the churches to facilitate ECOWAS efforts to promote a negotiated solution, Raiser praises "the spirit of toleration and religious reconciliation" evident in a joint declaration by Ivory Coast Roman Catholic and Methodist church leaders; the declaration referred to mosques as well as to churches. "There is a real danger of religion becoming another factor in the conflict," Raiser warns.

"The WCC joins you in your call to prayer and mobilization in favour of peace," Raiser tells the churches. And concludes by encouraging them "to analyse the underlying causes of the crisis, and to remedy these to the best of your ability".

His letter to ECOWAS expresses WCC support for its mediation efforts, and encourages the organization to continue to seek ways of bringing the parties to the negotiation table. It also informs ECOWAS of WCC efforts to assist its Ivory Coast member churches to "promote dialogue and mutual understanding between the various ethnic and religious communities, and to contribute to a peaceful solution of the present conflict".