Open Letter Calling for Intervention and Peace in Sudan
Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union 20 November 2004 The Honorable George W. Bush, President, United States of America
The Honorable Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State designee, United States of America
The Honorable John Danforth, United States Ambassador to the United Nations We
gather as a people called Methodist, representing five denominations
with more than 15 million members, to further cooperation and union
among churches in the Wesleyan tradition. As we commune in a
spirit of togetherness, we recognize there is deep brokenness created
by war throughout our world. Particularly, we are distraught
that tens of thousands of God’s people in Darfur, Sudan die from
preventable famine, disease, and violence as part of state-sponsored
genocide. Sadly, the situation in Sudan has been deemed the
“world’s worst humanitarian crisis”. Already, more than 300,000
have died, and more than 3 million more are in grave risk due to
deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions. As
Methodists, believing there is no holiness but “social holiness”, we
urgently call for the establishment of peace and security throughout the
nation of Sudan. It is clear that there can be no resolution to
the humanitarian crisis until there is a broader plan for regional
stability brokered by the United Nations Security Council and the
African Union. Therefore,
we urge the administration and Congress of the United States to
reengage seriously a peace process that holistically considers the
concerns of all Sudanese parties and ethnic groups. We also
implore further diplomatic pressure to urge the Government of Sudan to
withdraw all government-sponsored raiding entities and dispatch
necessary and adequate peace enforcement personnel to Darfur. We
applaud the Security Council’s leadership during its 18-19 November
2004 meeting, and plead for its continued involvement. Moreover,
we affirm the resolutions and calls to peace issued by the National
Council of Churches, as well as the General Board of Global Ministries
and the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist
Church. We
commit ourselves to remain mindful of the situation, and to revisit
this commission’s recommendations and actions at our spring 2005
meeting. Grace and Peace, on behalf of the
Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union Bishop E. Earl McCloud, Jr. Bishop Nathaniel Jarrett
Chair, Pan-Methodist Commission African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Ronald Cunningham Bishop Michael Molder
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Union American Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Linwood Rideout Bishop Violet Fisher
Union American Methodist Episcopal Church United Methodist Church Bishop Rhymes Moncure Bishop William B. Oden
United Methodist Church United Methodist Church “Beyond Repentance: Creating Communities of Peace and Justice”
Meeting in Dallas, Texas, 19-20 November 2004
cc: Episcopal Leaders, African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church
Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church
Union American Methodist Episcopal (UMAE) Church
United Methodist Church (UMC)
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