'Decades to heal'

Dr Williams also warned that the worldwide Anglican Church faced a fundamental "rupture" on the issue of homosexuality. He said he feared any split could take decades to heal.

Traditionalists have given the Church in the US until June to reverse its approach on ordaining gay clergy - or face expulsion from the Communion. Some liberals back a looser, federal structure for the Anglican Communion.

Dr Williams said he feared any split would run too deep to make this possible. The archbishop, who is visiting Sudan, was speaking in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

"If there is a rupture, it's going to be a more visible rupture, it is not going to settle down quietly to being a federation," he said. "And I suppose my anxiety about it is that if the communion is broken we may be left with even less than a federation." The rest