Darfur

First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, United Church of Christ

11 Garden Street

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-3605

617-547-2724

January 29, 2008

For Immediate Release

At its Annual Meeting on January 27, 2008, members of First Church in Cambridge unanimously approved a resolution to monitor investment of First Church's endowment funds to “ensure that we have no substantial funds invested in companies with holdings in the Sudan.” This resolution, “Promoting Peace for All in the Sudan,” was based on a similar joint resolution of the United Church of Christ's Justice and Witness Ministries Board of Directors and the Common Global Ministries Board, adopted in 2004. However, First Church's resolution goes further than the joint resolution, by calling for divestment from the Sudan.

Favorable action on this resolution followed a year of research, education and outreach to the congregation

on the evolving crisis in Sudan and neighboring African nations, on the actions of States in the U.S. (including Massachusetts) to make divestment from the Sudan policy guiding the investment of State funds,
on First Church's past use of divestment to back its objections to the policy of apartheid in South Africa.

“Promoting Peace for All in the Sudan” deplores the mass murders and atrocities committed in the Darfur region of Southern Sudan. It calls on the Sudanese government “to cease hostile actions against civilians, to end support for militant groups committing violence, and to engage immediately in efforts to end the crisis in Darfur.” It expresses support for international peacekeeping efforts, “including the commitment of the African Union to provide peacekeepers to the region.” It calls on members of First Church to engage in prayer and public witness in efforts to bring peace to the Sudan. And most immediately, in order to back up its moral and political concerns with economic action, the resolution makes it a policy of First Church to substantially divest from companies doing business in the Sudan.