Contact: Juan Michel, World Council of Churches, +41 22 791 6153, +41 79 507 6363, media@wcc-coe.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, July 3 /Standard Newswire/ -- The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia expressed "joy" at the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages in Colombia today. Welcoming the liberation "as an important step in a yet uncompleted process", Kobia called upon the FARC "to release hostages on a humanitarian basis".

Commenting on Betancourt's liberation, Kobia stated that the detention of hundreds of people who are still hostages of the FARC is "an unacceptable situation which should be reverted immediately".

"Hostage taking should have no place in the processes of social and political transformation," the WCC general secretary stated, reiterating the call to President Alvaro Uribe and the FARC "to look for a peaceful solution of the conflict in Colombia".

Kobia expressed hope that mediation efforts by the governments of France, Switzerland, Spain, Ecuador and Venezuela will be strengthened to "achieve peace with justice in Colombia".

Full text of the WCC general secretary's comments
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6098

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.