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By John Aves*

Two highlights at the next 17-20 February 2004 meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee will be an in-depth presentation of WCC work on HIV/AIDS, and the formal installation of the council's new general secretary, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. The committee will also review the progress of work to prepare the next WCC assembly, and consider actions on public issues.

Free photo available – see below

Cf. WCC Press Update Pu-04-05 of 22 January 2004

Alexander Belopopsky from the UK was appointed coordinator of the WCC Public Information team by the WCC officers meeting in November 2003. Belopopsky, a lay member of the Orthodox Church (Ecumenical Patriarchate), has been responsible for the WCC Europe Desk since February 1996, and will move into his new position at the beginning of 2004. He replaces Sara Speicher from the USA, who moved to the UK end-November after 7 years with the Council. Before coming to the WCC, Belopopsky served as secretary-general of SYNDESMOS, the World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth. He has a degree in modern history from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France.

Cf. WCC Press Update PU-03-43 of 13 November 2003

Cf. WCC Press Update PU-03-42 of 11 November 2003

By Paul Jeffrey, Jerusalem

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches has issued a comprehensive statement in the aftermath of the Iraq war, calling for the United Nations to be allowed to work with Iraqis to form a representative, participatory government free of external control.

While welcoming the Middle East Road Map to peace, some reservations were expressed by Peter Weiderud, Director of the WCC's Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), in an assessment distributed today to CCIA members and WCC networks. Weiderud highlights that the Road Map includes "a number of encouraging elements" but "it is far from ideal", and details some of the "vague and disturbing elements in it, as well as significant gaps that need clarification". Weiderud also welcomes the initiative from UN secretary general Kofi Annan to post a peacekeeping force in the area, but he stresses that UN should have "a more active and comprehensive role (…) in the entire process of conflict resolution and not just in peacekeeping".

When the military actions in Iraq were over, those who had opposed the military invasion had to face the assessment - conveyed by the media and the military victors - that it had been "successful". The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser responds in this interview to the "critical questions" posed to organizations like the Council, which had a high profile in the pro-peace movement. He also mentions the announced "road map" to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.