Letter to WCC Member Churches about Liberia
31 July 2003

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is with deep sadness that we write to you about the on-going violence and the immense human suffering taking place in Liberia.

On 13 June, the World Council of Churches’ General Secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressing serious concern at the escalation of fighting in Liberia between government forces and the rebel groups. The letter called on the UN to support current peace initiatives and encourage the parties to accept a “credible peacekeeping force,” with the aim of securing a lasting ceasefire. Since then the situation has worsened dramatically. Rebel forces insist there will be no cease-fire until peacekeepers arrive. Efforts to send peacekeeping forces seem to be bogged down in discussions of finances.

Meanwhile, reports from churches in Liberia say that “The humanitarian situation is desperate and gets worse every day…There is no supply of drinking water and no food…The churches’ and mosques’ compounds are full of people who fled the war zones and are in need of assistance. Unfortunately, there is nothing to help them.”

We ask you to pray for peace in Liberia. In spite of the devastating violence in Liberia, Christians are gathering spontaneously to pray for peace. The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), the Fellowship of Churches and Councils in West Africa (FECCIWA) and WCC are calling on churches throughout Africa to pray for Liberia and to organize ecumenical services. We ask you to include Liberia in your intercessions next Sunday and to organize special prayer sessions wherever possible.

We ask you to urge your governments to support the immediate deployment of peacekeepers to Liberia and to ensure that these are adequately financed.

We ask you to respond generously to both the immediate humanitarian needs in Liberia and to longer-term efforts for relief and reconstruction through the Action by Churches Together (ACT) International appeal, AFLR31. Although the Liberian ACT members’ humanitarian response has been severely hampered by the recent fighting, they will continue their relief efforts as soon as it is safe to do so. ACT International has a long history of humanitarian response to the people of Liberia, made possible through the financial support and shipments of relief items by ACT members around the world in support of ACT’s local members and partners.

At this time of uncertainty and suffering in Liberia, we recall the importance of unity in the words which Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (II Cor. 1: 3-7)

Yours in Christ,

William Temu
Acting General Secretary