Archbishop Bernard Malango made his comments as he left Malawi to attend a meeting in Britain of Anglican leaders from around the world who are discussing a decision by the US Episcopal (Anglican) Church to consecrate an openly-gay priest as a bishop.

Another issue being discussed at the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Nottingham, central England, is the decision of the New Westminster diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada to authorise a rite to bless same-sex unions.

A commission set up by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams last year requested the two churches to stay away from meetings of the consultative council but to attend the Nottingham meeting to explain their stance on homosexuality.

"The report strongly condemns these sad developments and therefore we asked the two churches to voluntarily withdraw their membership from the consultative council for a period leading to the next Lambeth Conference [of the world's Anglican bishops] in 2008," said Malango.

He said the Anglican church in Malawi was not willing to accept any financial assistance from the churches in the United States or Canada, or any other church in the world whose leadership promoted homosexuality.

Leaders of the US church attending the Nottingham meeting on 21 June made an appeal that the issue not split the 75 million-strong Anglican Communion.

"We wish most deeply to express our loving concern for the good of the whole Church, especially for those Anglicans worldwide who are living in faithful, committed same-sex partnerships, and also for those Anglicans worldwide who do not see how such relationships can be open to God's blessing," the US church said in a document presented to the gathering.

The Malawi church leader's remarks followed reports that the Anglican church in Uganda had rejected an aid package from the US Episcopal Church to support HIV/AIDS projects, despite a funding shortage.

The lack of funds meant the Anglican province had no working phones in its Kampala office, noted the Rev. Alison Barfoot, assistant to the Anglican archbishop of Uganda.

But, she said, Anglican opponents of the stance of the US church on the issue of homosexuality had not pitched in sufficiently to make up the money the Ugandan church had forfeited, "definitely not to the extent of what we have given up".

Rwandan Bishop John K. Rucyahana noted that African churches had suffered by rejecting funds from North America. "To be honest, there is not enough money for the needs we have in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide," he said. "But if money is being used to disgrace the Gospel, then we don't need it."