Newsline Special Report
Church of the Brethren Leaders To Take Part In Delegation To Sudan

A small interfaith delegation of spiritual leaders from the United States will visit the Darfur region of Sudan, where many thousands of black Sudanese have been killed or forced into refugee camps by what many are calling a genocide. The delegation is being sponsored by leaders of the National Black Leadership Roundtable and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.

Two Church of the Brethren leaders have been invited to join the delegation: Jim Hardenbrook, Moderator of the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference; and Phil Jones, Director of the Brethren Witness/Washington Office of the Church of the Brethren General Board. The delegation also includes Jewish, Muslim, and Roman Catholic participants, and will be led by the Hon. Walter E. Fauntroy, President of the National Black Leadership Roundtable.

The trip is planned for June 6-15. In addition to Darfur, the delegation also will visit officials of the Sudan government in Khartoum, and attend the first few days of an African Union peace meeting on Sudan, to be held in Lagos, Nigeria.

Hardenbrook, who is pastor of Nampa (Idaho) Church of the Brethren, said he hopes the trip will allow him to "be a real advocate for the people of Darfur." Facing people who are responsible for the deaths of thousands is going to a spiritual battle for him, he shared. "We need boldness in speaking to power, but also ears ready to listen. We need to learn, and learn a lot, I hope," he said. Hardenbrook visited southern Sudan in 2002 on a Faith Expedition trip sponsored by the Church of the Brethren General Board. His congregation financially supports a school in southern Sudan.

Jones has been an advocate and activist for the people of Sudan over recent years. He traveled to southern Sudan in the fall of 2003 and has hosted leaders from the south for numerous State Department, governmental, and nongovernmental meetings. In the summer of 2004, Jones participated in an organized four-month campaign designed to bring attention to the genocide in Darfur. This action included nonviolent witness and his arrest in July 2004.

"In a small way, we hope this interfaith delegation will offer support and encouragement to the suffering people of Darfur, allowing them to see that there are those who recognize the evils of this genocide," Jones said. "In embracing their pain and hearing their stories, we hope to renew our strength and deepen our passion to be a stronger voice here in the US."

Goals for the June delegation include supporting an opportunity for an African solution to the crisis in Sudan and addressing the genocidal campaign that continues to be waged in Darfur, according to the National Black Leadership Roundtable. The delegation also will support the peace accord signed between leaders of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army of southern Sudan, and the Khartoum government of the north of Sudan. In addition, the trip is made to support Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, chairman of the African Union, who is holding a peace meeting with all of the warring parties in Sudan. The three-week long meeting in Lagos is called "unprecedented" by the National Black Leadership Roundtable, and will include those working out the north-south Sudan accord as well as the warring parties in Darfur.

"Leaders on both sides believe that the presence...of an interfaith delegation of respected spiritual leaders such as we are putting together will be very helpful to the deliberations," said Fauntroy in his invitation to delegation members.

In Darfur, the delegation will be hosted by a Muslim nongovernmental agency, Islamic Relief USA, which is administering two refugee camps in Darfur for the United Nations.

On Friday, June 3, before leaving for Sudan, delegation members including Hardenbrook and Jones plan to meet in New York with members of the Darfur Justice Movement and United Nations officials. Other members of the delegation plan a brief meeting with the US Department of State and members of Secretary Condoleezza Rice's staff.

Source: 06/02/2005 Newsline
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Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board, on every other Wednesday with other editions as needed. Newsline stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the source.