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Anglican bishops march in London

24/07/2008

Around 700 Anglican bishops seeking renewed commitments on the millennium development goals (MDGs) have taken part in a protest march in central London.

Anglicans from around the world are currently meeting at the once-a-decade conference at Lambeth Palace and took the opportunity to press for reform at the halfway point of the MDGs.

Progress so far has been limited and there are fears many of the aims will not be met if developed countries do not strengthen their commitments.

The bishops, holding purple banners with slogans like 'do justice, love mercy' and 'keep the promise', marched through the capital to place pressure on governments.

Michael Bird, Bishop of Niagara, said: "We are here supporting the millennium development goals to halve poverty by 2015. We are making a statement to the world about ending poverty in the third world. This is an issue we have to deal with."

And Orlando Santos de Oliveira, a bishop from southern Brazil, added: "We want to call attention to the millennium development goals. There is too big a concentration of wealth in a small number of countries."

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said the march was a "memorable experience" and expressed confidence the MDGs would be "generously and faithfully supported" by prime minister Gordon Brown.

Mr Brown, addressing the Lambeth conference, backed the Anglican church's stance on the issue. He insisted poverty can be eradicated "if we can all work together for change".

The prime minister laid out a number of specific targets to aim for including getting 40 million more children into education by 2010, four million more doctors trained and $20 billion for food aid and investment in a "green revolution" for Africa.

The UN will hold an emergency session on September 25th addressing the issue. Mr Brown said this would be an opportunity to "redeem the pledges that have been promised".