The heads of seven church groupings from around the world are seeking to meet United Nations' Secretary General Kofi Annan to discuss continued UN action to cut the rate of global poverty.
After a week of meetings in New York and Washington, DC, the ecumenical leaders also suggested in a September letter that the UN organize an international gathering to explore the possibility of forming a peacekeeping force in Iraq.
In the letter, the church leaders applauded Annan's leadership in trying to implement the UN's Millennium Development Goals, intended to prod the international community to greatly reduce the rate of extreme global poverty by 2015.
"We wish to encourage you to continue this vital work [supporting the Millennium goals] and we pledge ourselves to work with you to try and hold the countries of the world accountable to those goals which are so vitally important to so many of our people in so many places," the Christian leaders said in their letter to Annan.
On Iraq, the leaders said they continued to believe that an international force was "the most effective opportunity in that deeply difficult and complex situation."
Annan has made a commitment to deepening ties between the UN and the international religious community. The ecumenical leaders last met the general secretary in May 2004.
The signatories of the letter include Rev. H. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, Rev. Karen Hamilton, general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches and Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA. – ENI
