Pastor Arlindo Marcal from East Timor visited the EKD
Evangelical Church in Germany, EKD-Bulletin 04/1997
On 22. August 1997, Pastor Arlindo Marçal, the Moderator of the Protestant Church of East Timor (GKTT) visited the EKD Church Office. Earlier he had taken part as the delegate of his Church at the General Assembly of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (RWB) in Debrecen / Hungary. At the invitation of the Churches in Germany, he visited “Bread for the World” in Stuttgart and the Churches of Lippe and Westphalia, met representatives from Watch Indonesia, and held discussions in Hanover.
The invitation to visit Germany was discussed in January 1997, when an EKD-delegation consisting of Bishop Dr. hc. Rolf Koppe and church officials Katharina Wegner and Johannes Achilles visited Dili, the capital of East Timor, at the invitation of the GKTT and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, the winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize. Pastor Marçal reported on the situation of his Church, which is marked by the tension between the Indonesian and the native East Timor members, of the attempts to expand law enforcement and human rights work, of the increasingly trusting relations with the Roman Catholic Church in East Timor, and the missionary work of his Church.
He confirmed the frequently uttered conviction of Bishop Belo on his international travels that the human rights situation for the native population in East Timor had not improved, that there were still serious infringements of human rights occurring and that the situation could only be pacified if the population of East Timor were to be allowed a greater degree of self-determination. <>
