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Attacks on civilians and the denial of human rights continues in the Nuba Mountain region of Sudan.

Following clashes between protesters and police in Venezuela, which left around 20 people dead in February, the WCC president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rev. Gloria Nohemy Ulloa Alvarado, expressed concern over the violence. She made these comments on 10 March, conveying solidarity with the churches in Venezuela.

In developing countries, many Christians are faced with issues of corruption, war, hunger, oppression, killings and new forms of terrorism, said Rev. Dr Ibrahim Yusuf Wushishi, general secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria, an ecumenical organization representing member churches of the World Council of Churches in Nigeria.

Many church and civil society representatives have expressed disappointment over the lack of vision and ambition in the outcomes of the Rio+20 summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this June. Yet the affirmation of the human right to water and sanitation is one aspect among others in the results that the future work of the ecumenical movement for sustainability and eco-justice can build on.

Several key leaders of the Christian churches in Iraq met with international church leaders, including members of the World Council of Churches Central Committee, in Geneva this week about the ongoing situation in Iraq.

Any solution to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) must engage the whole nation – not just the eastern region where violence is centred, a small ecumenical team visiting the Bas Congo and Kasai Oriental provinces has learned.

By Fredrick Nzwili (*)

An international ecumenical consultation has appealed to the government of Sri Lanka and the rebel movement Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to halt fighting in order to free tens of thousands of civilians trapped in a war zone in the north of the country.

In Haiti, "the deadliest form of violence is extreme poverty, and the grimmest insecurity is food insecurity," according to a Living Letters team who visited the Caribbean nation on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) last November.

The the United States Conference for the World Council of Churches (WCC) honored five individuals or groups who had rendered outstanding service in the cause of peace during its 2-4 December annual meeting.

The Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC) has launched its 2009 focus on the Caribbean region with the theme: "One Love: Building a Peaceful Caribbean".

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A pastoral delegation sent by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to Georgia and Russia has not been able to visit South Ossetia from the Georgian side of the ceasefire line. Unable to make the half-hour drive to Tskhinvali from within Georgia, they are now traveling thousands of kilometers to reach the enclave from the Russian side instead.

After "what is now being described as a deeply flawed election", the World Council of Churches (WCC) has called for the protection of the population "against increased and continued violence", an "intensified international monitoring of the situation" and the provision of humanitarian aid. The WCC also issued a warning concerning the possible consequences of economic sanctions.

Zimbabwe's run-off presidential election should be postponed, according to a young leader of the country's Student Christian Movement, who is in Switzerland to request the churches support for addressing the humanitarian crisis in the South African country.

By Jean Blaylock (*)

By Annegret Kapp (*)

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As mediation to solve the disputed Kenyan presidential election enters a critical phase, top-level figures from the two parties met an international ecumenical delegation, which asked them to move on from the electoral dispute and seek a compromise solution.

By Anto Akkara (*)