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Reformed churches to send delegation to Madagascar
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Laurie Spurr, Torre Pellice, Italy, July 15 (ENI) - A team of church leaders from the World Alliance of Churches will visit Madagascar where unrest over presidential elections threatens to divide churches along political lines, the executive committee of the Alliance decided on Monday.

The loyalty of Christians remains divided between the current ruler of the country and the man whom he ousted last year after a disputed poll, Florentine Ramambasoa, a member of the executive of the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar, told ENI. She said political forces were also trying to divide the country along ethnic lines.

The Warc delegation is to speak to church leaders and members in Madagascar to assess the situation.

Marc Ravalomanana, the mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, who was also the lay vice-president of the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar, won a bitterly contested presidential election held in December 2001. But former President Didier Ratsiraka disputed the results, and months of protests and general strikes followed, sometimes becoming violent.

Shortly after the US and France recognized Ravalomanana as the legitimate leader, Ratsiraka flew to France and his forces on the island switched sides.

But unrest has continued and an anti-government demonstration attended by 10,000 people in the capital in May this year ended in violence.

The National Council of Christian Churches in Madagascar is considered a political pressure group in the Indian Ocean island nation, located off the east coast of Mozambique. Madagascar's population is about 40% Christian and 7% Muslim, with about 52% of the population holding beliefs of people indigenous to the island.

About 70% of the Malagasy population lives below the poverty line.

Warc is a fellowship of 75 million Christians in more than 200 Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and United churches. The decision on the visit of the delegation to Madagascar was made before the Tuesday close of the meeting in Torre Pellice of the Warc executive committee. [335 words]

ENI-03-0352
© Ecumenical News International
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