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Church World Service urgently appeals for aid to suffering in West Africa
2002-192-4
8/14/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
Returning from a recent trip of church leaders to the troubled nations of West Africa, the Rev. John McCullough, executive director of Church World Service, has appealed to the U.S. and United Nations for aid to 'a troubled sub-region of West Africa that has known too much suffering.' The eight-member delegation visited Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Gambia.
McCullough wrote Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan about the urgent need for peace in Liberia, where civil war has raged off and on since 1989, displacing nearly half the population. The delegation visited a camp near Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, where 6,000 people have not had access to food aid from international aid agencies.
CWS also is calling for multifaceted assistance to the region, especially to Sierra Leone which is attempting to recover from a brutal civil war that ended last January after 11 years of violence. The ecumenical humanitarian agency supported by members of the National Council of Churches is helping some 25,000 Liberians who have sought refuge in Sierra Leone. It has also helped the Liberian Council of Churches and other faith-based groups to provide material for shelters, food, income-generating projects, and trauma counseling for internally displaced Liberians.
CWS is now seeking appointments with Powell and Annan to discuss West Africa's urgent needs, as well as a meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees, members of the U.S. Congress, and ambassadors to the UN from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
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