WCC call on UN for International Peace-Keeping Force for Sudan

World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee members, who have been meeting in Seoul, Korea over the past four days (14-27 August 2004), have condemned the continued humanitarian disaster in Sudan, which has included the forced displacement of thousands of citizens. The committee stood firm in urging the African Union and the United Nations (UN) to arrange an international peace-keeping force to enter the region. The executive committee wanted the group set up to investigate war crimes, and to act as independent observers in monitoring the efforts of the ceasefire and human rights issues within the country.

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

UN statistics for the region show that more 50,000 people have died over the past eighteen months as a result of the violence directly blamed on the pro-government militia.

The WCC executive committee said that they “urged the government of Sudan to protect its civilian population and to disarm the pro-government militia”, and called upon all groups involved in the area to combine efforts in working for peace and reconciliation.

The committee also gave deserved recognition to the international movement of aid that has been seen as a reaction to the humanitarian crisis that has been revealed in Darfur. The WCC praised the efforts of churches and related aid agencies who have supported the peace, compromise and rehabilitation works in Sudan.

As the WCC executive committee were releasing this statement, renewed peace talks were being held between opposing parties in Nigeria. This can be seen as the first steps in bringing harmony to a region that has experienced the horrors of war almost constantly since it gained independence in 1956.