The telephone conference of the Non-formal International Christian Peace Group for Yugoslavia

THE TELEPHONE CONFERENCE OF THE NON-FORMAL INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN PEACE GROUP FOR YUGOSLAVIA

The Non-formal International Christian Peace Group for Yugoslavia held another telephone conference on July 19, 1999. Participating in it were Dr. Keith Clements, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches; Canon Richard Marsh, ecumenical secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury; Rev. Jurgen Gohde, chairman of the Diakonical Service of the Evangelical Church in Germany and vice-president of Eurodiakonia; Rev. Jacques Stewart, president of the World Conference on Religion and Peace; Rev. Paul Wilson, director for Europe of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; Father Luc of the Taize Community; Mons. Ivan Jurkevic of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State; Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, Orthodox Church in America; and hieromonk Hilarion (Alfeyev), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations.

Canon R. Marsh informed the participants about the visit made to Kosovo by a high-ranking delegation of the Church of England, led by Bishop Richard Chartres of London. The delegation met with representatives of the peace-keeping forces, local Albanian community, hierarchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox population in Kosovo. According to the delegation, the Orthodox minority in Kosovo feel powerless and deprived of all rights; there is no room left for Serbs to live in the region. In this situation it is not an easy task for the peace-keeping forces to fulfill their functions.

The participants continued to discuss the convening of an international conference on just and lasting peace in Yugoslavia with a substantial participation of the world Christian community. This conference may take place in coming September.