By Stephen Brown
Harare, 9 December (ENI)--The World Council of Churches (WCC) eighth assembly must make "a very strong statement" that the churches will not tolerate the level of debt of the world's poorest countries, according to Ann Pettifor, director of the Jubilee 2000 campaign.

Jubilee 2000 was founded in 1996 to campaign for the cancellation of unpayable Third World debt by the year 2000 to mark the start of the new millennium. Pettifor was speaking to ENI yesterday 8 December, as more than 300 participants at the WCC assembly formed a human chain around the assembly's main conference venue, the Great Hall of the University of Zimbabwe, and chanted: "Cancel the debt".

The chain was organised by young people at the assembly, but delegates and visitors of all ages joined in, including bishops and other church leaders.

The issue of debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries is a priority for many member churches of the WCC. Many church leaders, particularly in Africa and Latin America, support the idea.

In his speech to the assembly yesterday, 8 December, Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, called on the WCC to use "its moral authority to appeal to the powerful nations of the West to agree to write off debts of Third World nations". The WCC's assembly, which opened in Zimbabwe's capital Harare, on 3 December, is expected to make a statement on 12 December about the debt crisis.

Pettifor said that church leaders had to take "real leadership" on the issue of debt relief for the world's poorest countries. "The churches have to come out in solidarity with these people, because right now debt is killing billions of people," Pettifor said.

Referring to Harare newspaper reports that more 1000 paupers a month are being buried in paupers graves in Zimbabwe because their families cannot afford the burials, she said that such deaths were "largely because of the lending and borrowing system of the West, which has resulted in high levels of debt and economic degradation".

The WCC's Harare assembly marks the jubilee of its foundation in 1948, an anniversary which is being celebrated during the assembly. But, Pettifor said, the "real jubilee celebration ... can only come about when we have [fulfilled] the [biblical] jubilee commandment that debts should be cancelled by the year 2000. And so far the WCC has been a little bit slow in coming forward, a little bit slow in taking leadership on this issue."

But speaking at a press conference yesterday, the WCC's general secretary, Dr Konrad Raiser, dismissed as incorrect from "beginning to end" a press release by Jubilee 2000 which described Africa's foreign debt a "taboo issue" at the WCC assembly. Dr Raiser said that the WCC was in "broad sympathy" with Jubilee 2000, and that he regretted the statement "which disturbs our relationship".

Estimates of the unpayable external debt of the world's poorest countries reach up to US$250 billion. Some Africa countries spend four times as much servicing debt each year as they do on health care for their citizens. According to figures released by organisations campaigning for debt relief, for every US$1 given in development aid, US$3 goes back to rich countries in debt-service payments.

Since its launch in Britain in 1996, Jubilee 2000 had spread to 40 countries, "thanks largely to the churches", Pettifor said.

Among those taking part in the human chain, Alice Kirambi, a Quaker from Nairobi, told ENI that if the debts of the poorest countries were cancelled, the funds released should "be rechannelled into the social services [and] into good government".

"There should be no corruption, the governments have to be accountable to the people," she said.

Kirambi, a member of the Friends' Yearly Meeting in Kenya, said her organisation, Christian Partners Development Agency, had launched Jubilee 2000 in Kenya in July this year. It was now working through the media in "creating awareness" about debt cancellation.

Jubilee 2000 is trying to collect more than 21 million signatures for a global petition - which would be the world's biggest petition - to be presented to next year's Group of Seven (G7) summit of the world's leading industrialised countries, to be held in Cologne, Germany.

At this year's G7 meeting, in Birmingham, England, more than 50 000 demonstrators formed a human chain which stretched for 11 kilometres (seven miles) around the city centre.

A human chain was being organised for the Cologne meeting, Pettifor said, "and for those people who can't get to Cologne, we're going to take their signatures, so we're calling on churches around the world to gather signatures for the Jubilee 2000 petition".

 Dr Clement Janda, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), today gave his support to the Jubilee 2000 campaign. Speaking at a press conference at the WCC assembly he said that he was "pleasantly surprised" that President Mugabe called for debt relief during his speech to the assembly. Many African leaders were afraid to address the problem, he said. "They know where they have stacked up their money and are afraid to lift up their heads because they know they are part of the problem."

Referring to reports that the external debt of several countries in Central America had been cancelled after devastation by Hurricane Mitch, Dr Janda said: "Should we also invite Hurricane Mitch to come to Africa before we can be taken seriously? How many children do you need to see die before you can see the economic devastation caused by debt?" [923 words]

Photographs of the assembly are available from Photo Oikoumene

Related sites:

WCC Assembly Web Site

Photo Oikoumene

ENI special reports in French

ENI takes no responsibility for the content of external sites

This selection of ENI articles from the WCC assembly are for personal information only and remain copyright 1998 Ecumenical News International. They may not be reposted electronically or reproduced in any form whatsoever. For further details about subscriptions to the full ENI Daily News Service, including details of media subscriptions, contact ENI, PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland, Tel: +41-22 791 6515, Fax: +41-22 798 1346, Email: eni@eni.ch, or consult the range of ENI products.