November 26, 2010

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania/ GENEVA – Three long-serving staff members of the Mauritania country program of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) were among seven persons who died on 25 November in a road accident in southern Mauritania.

DWS Mauritania program coordinator Ms Houleye Tall; Mr Macky Coulibaly, area coordinator for Brakna, Trarza and Gorgol; and driver Mr Louloud Ould Khaina were travelling back to the Nouakchott head office after completing a training session with local communities and leaders when their vehicle hit a lorry. A local leader, his wife and two children from the region also perished in the accident.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all seven victims of this terrible accident, we send them our heartfelt condolences," said LWF/DWS Mauritania representative Mr Jaap Antjes.

LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge conveyed deep condolences for the tragic loss on behalf of staff colleagues and partners around the world. "We pray that [you] will be comforted in your grief. Know that you all are surrounded in love and prayer," he wrote in a letter addressed to Antjes.

Tall, 52, started her first stint with the LWF as an emergency volunteer during the Sahel drought in the late seventies. She joined DWS Mauritania in 1988 as administrative staff, gradually rising to the position of program coordinator. "She had excellent relations with many of our partners in Europe, America, Asia and Africa. She had a warm personality, she was good humored, and very capable in the areas of women empowerment, peace and reconciliation, and human rights," said Antjes.

Junge recalled Tall's participation in the July 2010 LWF Eleventh Assembly in Stuttgart, Germany, where she managed the DWS program stand, exhibiting various activities including the women solar engineers' project. "She taught us and welcomed us into the world of Mauritania, especially the world of women there. She was a wonderful representative for promoting understanding and building bridges across religions, across cultures, and across economic divides. She gave witness to our common humanity," wrote the LWF general secretary.

Tall has represented the LWF in various other regional and international meetings including as a delegate to the December 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark and as coordinator of a team to the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Tall was an active member of the Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA) women's network. She "worked hard to advance human rights, including women and children's rights in her country, and her work was well appreciated by all," said Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, IFAPA president.

Coulibaly, 59, joined the LWF program as a finance officer 1991. Khaina, 51 has been working for the Mauritania program since 2000.

"All three will be dearly missed by their families as loved ones and breadwinners," said Antjes. They were "committed to the cause, hard working and wanting to help others in need first," he added.

Burial took place today in the deceased's respective home areas.

Lutheran World Federation