ELCA Reporter, Others Released from Detention in Zimbabwe

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A section editor for The Lutheran, the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and colleagues from Europe and Africa who were detained by authorities in Zimbabwe, were released Jan. 28, said the Rev. David L. Miller, editor for The Lutheran.
Kathleen Kastilahn, Chicago, who edits the "People and Faith" section of the magazine, and as many as seven others were part of a Lutheran World Federation trip to Zimbabwe to report on Lutheran- sponsored aid and development projects. They were detained at their hotel in Zvishavane, 250 miles from Harare, because authorities believed they were operating as journalists without proper accreditation, Miller said. However, charges against the group were dropped before they were to appear in court, he said.
Miller was informed of the group's release by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, who is in Colorado attending church meetings. Hanson was informed of their release by the Rev. Ishamel Noko, LWF general secretary, Geneva, Switzerland, who worked with the Zimbabwean authorities to resolve the situation. Hanson and Miller also credited U.S. State Department personnel in Zimbabwe for their assistance.
"We are deeply thankful that the church truly is the body of Christ," Miller said in a message to ELCA churchwide office colleagues here. "'Body' is no mere metaphor, but a living reality that acts and reacts that the whole and its parts may live. This certainly occurred." Church members and leaders from around the globe mobilized to help, he said.
"I pray we may show the same solidarity in the body for the suffering in places like Zimbabwe that they have shown for Kathy and her colleagues," Miller added.
Others in the group included one person from Finland, one from Kenya and two from Germany, Miller said. Three from Zimbabwe -- a reporter for the Harare-based Daily News, and two Zimbabwean drivers with Lutheran Development Services -- were also detained, according to a report from Ecumenical News International (ENI), Geneva.
Following its release, the group was to return immediately to Harare -- where group members began their visit Jan. 24 and will leave the country Jan. 29, Miller said. It is unclear whether they are being deported, he said. The group's next stop was to be in Malawi, but Miller said he did not know if the group intended to complete the trip which was planned through Feb. 2.
New laws approved last year by President Robert Mugabe require journalists to apply for licenses in Zimbabwe and essentially bar foreign journalists from working there, Miller said. The group was detained at its hotel in Zvishavane Jan. 24, after visiting some project sites in Zimbabwe.
The ENI report said the tour was organized to highlight projects in advance of the LWF Assembly in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in July.
On Monday, Jan. 27, Kastilahn told the Reuters news agency that the group was "waiting to give a statement to police in the company of our lawyer. We are not under guard but we have been told to stay at the hotel."
Noko said the Zimbabwe action against the foreigners was a misunderstanding, and he hoped authorities would make it easy for the communication officers to continue.
The LWF paid 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars in bail for the foreign church workers, equal to nearly $9,000 in U.S. currency, said a report by the YLE News agency of Finland. It said the group was detained after one member was stopped by police because there was a journalist's stamp in his passport.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html