The UN Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches and Mennonites have co-sponsored an international dialogue between some 300 religious leaders and political figures - including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The woman heading up the Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network, which enables members of churches in different parts of the world to meet together, believes such exchanges are vital to a shared global future.

The North American Mennonite relief and development agency MCC is supporting summer 'peace camps' which bring young black people together to find out more about being creative peacemakers in their neighbourhood and aas leaders.

Five years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq the humanitarian situation for many people continues to deteriorate, says Mennonite Central Committee, which is extending its humanitarian work there.

Christians working against violence are convening a major symposium this weekend on the responsibility to protect people exposed to violence, abuse and genocide and its relation to peacemaking.

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Mennonite Partners in China (MPC) have jointly provided resources to support the relief work of churches in Sichuan and the aid work of The Amity Foundation, a Chinese humanitarian organization.

Two weeks after the country's disputed election and the violence that has followed in its wake, Mennonite relief work is continuing and the peace church reports that Kenyan Mennonite Church members are safe despite the troubles.

Joining a peace event in Colombia, a Mennonite pastor has warned that, in a nation torn by conflict and violence, peace cannot be reached by a greater investment in the military - but through the action of citizens to build alternatives.

The arrest last month of a US humanitarian worker entering Canada with 12 Haitian asylum seekers has serious implications for church groups and organizations that help refugees, says Mennonite Central Committee Canada’s refugee coordinator.

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the North American Anabaptist relief, development and peace agency, is helping to provide food and other aid in seven indigenous communities in northeastern Nicaragua that were devastated by Hurricane Felix.