In his Eastertide Letter sent to the heads of Churches and confessional families throughout the world, Dr Williams says that his experiences in Sudan earlier in the year revealed worrying signs that the slowness of aid was compounding what was already becoming a silent tragedy.

"A visit ... to Sudan brought home just how little and just how slowly we respond to each other according to the laws of the new creation. The mechanisms by which international aid is delivered are so slow that the people of war-torn Southern Sudan, even a whole year after the peace agreement, are still waiting for basic aid, and too few voices are raised in the wealthy world to protest."

"In Darfur, neither national nor international forces have found a way of breaking the cycle of brutal violence and terror. Too many of us human beings, it seems, are content that death should be at work in others so long as our own life is unaffected."

The Church, said Dr Williams, should live in testimony to the transforming power of the resurrection

"Easter reminds us that the reality of the new world truly has arrived in our midst. It really is possible to live differently. The cost may look frightening, but its outcome is for all. So we should give thanks that our world has been turned upside down by God in Christ; and we should be asking how we may live more fully in that world, accepting death for our selfishness so that the life of Jesus may be seen and experienced in peace justice and reconciliation...'