An official visit has begun by World Council of Churches General-Secretary, Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, to churches in Cuba and Haiti. The visit began on Sunday 31st July and will continue until 7th August 2005.

The main topics on Kobia’s agenda will be human rights, democratisation, international aid, as well as ecumenism in the region, and the 9th Assembly of the WCC.

Recently, Kobia has been extremely busy, and on 28th July visited the leaders of the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC) at its main headquarters in Trinidad.

Dr Bernice Powell-Jackson who is the WCC president of North America, and also from the United Church of Christ (USA), has joined Kobia, along with WCC central committee member Bishop Rolf Koppe from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

Central committee member Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi from the Episcopal Church of Burundi will also join the group in Haiti.

The WCC have also announced that WCC staff members Ms Marta Palma, programme executive for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Mr Guillermo Kerber, programme executive for impunity, justice & reconciliation, will be travelling with the WCC general secretary.

On July 28th at the CCC HQ in Trinidad, Caribbean Conference of Churches general secretary Mr Gerald Granado and WCC central committee member Ms Donnalie Edwards-Cabey of the Church in the Province of the West Indies (Bahamas) were in attendance.

The WCC has two member churches in Cuba; the Methodist Church and the First Presbyterian Reformed Church; the Protestant Federation of Haiti is an associate council of the WCC.