Council Press Release No. 23 - LWF Council Underscores Urgent Need for Food in Southern Africa
LWF Council Meeting, Wittenberg, Germany, 10-17 September 2002
Poor Contributions toward Relief Efforts in the Region
WITTENBERG, Germany/GENEVA, 17 September 2002 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council called attention to food shortages in southern Africa, especially in Zimbabwe and surrounding countries. The action came in response to recommendations from the LWF Program Committee for World Service on the final day of the Council’s September 10-17 meeting in Luther’s city of Wittenberg.
Robert Granke, Director of the LWF Department for World Service, told the Council that 12 million people are affected by the food shortage in southern Africa. About half of those people are in Zimbabwe. Granke said there is an urgent need to get seeds and tools to the region, and a concerted effort must be made to bring this need to the attention of LWF member churches because contributions toward relief efforts in southern Africa are lagging.
The Council agreed “to urgently draw public attention to the serious humanitarian crisis in southern Africa” and expressed “alarm at the unacceptable delay in international humanitarian response.” It also denounced “any use of humanitarian assistance as a political tool.”
LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ), told the Council there have been political problems with the distribution of food. Now, he said, the government of Zimbabwe had returned control of distribution to the non-governmental organizations providing the food relief.
The LWF Council also asked the General Secretary to convey its concern for and solidarity with churches affected by recent flooding in Europe.
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