In June 2001, Fimbo Ganvunze, Mennonite World Conference Executive Committee member, and Larry Miller, MWC Executive Secretary, visited New York. They had two objectives: to clarify a possible MWC intern appointment to the Mennonite Central Committee office at the United Nations and to have an encounter with Yasser Sabra, a U.N. diplomat, concerning the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

MWC and MCC have worked together informally for a long time. In 1997, in an effort to clarify their collaboration, the two agencies approved an agreement stating mutual expectations. An additional effort at deepening the relationship has been the exchange of "participant observers" between their executive committees over the past four years.

It is within this context that the meetings of the MWC Peace Council took place in July 2000 in Guatemala. During these meetings the conflicts in Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and their impact on the population and member churches in the area were discussed. The members of the Peace Council and the General Council of MWC decided to send letters to the leaders of concerned countries (including neighboring countries, USA and countries of western Europe) and to the United Nations.

The goal of the letters was to call attention to the intolerable suffering of the people of Colombia and the Congo and to challenge the leaders to take action in their favor. The letters were not based on political allegiances but were the cry of those who suffer — U.N.an echo of the great difficulty of whole populations, regardless of their religious affiliation, to survive. These letters were an appeal from the worldwide Mennonite and Brethren in Christ family.

And so the idea developed that MWC might have a voice through the MCC office at the U.N. Since 1991, the International Peace Office of MCC has mandated John Rempel to be its representative at the U.N. MCC believed it was necessary to have direct relations with international institutions to reinforce its work for peace and justice worldwide. The MCC U.N. office has official consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and with the Department of Public Information. And MCC has worked for a long time with other non-governmental organizations related to the U.N.

The MCC U.N. office represents North American Mennonite churches. But if MWC would mandate MCC to represent the global Mennonite family also, it's larger representation could perhaps carry more weight.

While the question of political involvement of the church is a debate in the North, the same reticence does not exist in the South where the church has no voice and seeks ways to be heard. Churches there tend, however, to overestimate the power of the U.N. Both the General Assembly and the Security Council pass binding resolutions, but adherence is often violated and although some countries pledge compliance to various agreements, the U.N. has no accountability mechanism.

MWC and MCC decided to try to find ways of collaborating. An idea under consideration is the appointment by MWC of an intern to join the team at the MCC U.N. office. This person would broaden the representation of the office and would benefit from a learning situation that could be helpful on returning to his/her country. This appointment would need to be defined and approved by both executive committees.

The MWC officials and Rempel achieved their second objective when they met Sabra, one of the people responsible for U.N. affairs in the Congo. He was happy to meet Ganvunze, someone from the country who had not taken an official party position

Since the arrival of a new president in the country, the U.N. has been authorized to send a peace-keeping force to the Congo. A lively discussion took place between Sabra, Ganvunze, Rempel and Miller on the activities and limits of such forces. Sabra explained that the U.N. mandate for the force was to conclude a peace accord between the rival parties, to disarm the country, to permit the withdrawal of foreign troops and to ensure the application of the Lusaka peace agreements.

The U.N. has sent a facilitator to Kinshasa to put in place a national conference for peace. When Ganvunze asked him, "What can we do to help you?" Sabra replied, "Support the facilitator in his work to find and put in place spokespersons for a peace conference."

Sabra is aware that the churches — Catholic, Protestant, Kimbanguist — have played a positive role in favor of peace. The Mennonite churches are part of the Church of Christ in the Congo, which regroups all Protestant churches in the country.

The encounter, scheduled for half an hour, stretched to more than one hour — a sign of Sabra's interest. Ganvunze was impressed with Sabra's knowledge of the Congo, which is reassuring. And Sabra was not left indifferent to the suffering of the Congolese people described passionately by Ganvunze — a passion which drew the diplomat out of his reserve and transformed what could have been a formal conversation into a moment of profound understanding.

--Sylvie Gudin Poupaert, based on an interview with Larry Miller