wfn.org | World Council of Churches: Condemn Violence in Burndi

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

NEWSBRIEF

July 30, 1996

CONDEMN VIOLENCE IN BURUNDI

"Since the genocide in Rwanda, the World Council of Churches, its
member churches and related church agencies, in cooperation with
the All-Africa Conference of Churches, have engaged in intensive
programs through ACT (Action by Churches Together) International
to provide urgently-needed humanitarian assistance and pastoral
support to the victims of this tragedy," said the Rev. Michael
Davies, acting general secretary of the WCC.  "The World Council
of Churches condemns in the strongest terms the continuing
massacres in Burundi.  The recent killings of another 300 people
in Bugendana Camp in the Gitega region represent an escalation of
the murders which have now claimed some 150,000 persons since
1993.  Once again, the victims have been principally children,
women and aged persons.  We join in the urgent appeal of the
United Nations' Special Delegate to Burundi for urgent
international action to prevent this violence in the Great Lakes
region from reaching fully genocidal proportions yet again," said
Davies on July 25.  ACT is a worldwide network of churches and
their related agencies meeting human need through coordinated
emergency response and common identity.  The ACT Network is
organizationally based in the Lutheran World Federation and WCC,
and is a coordinating rather than an operational office.  The
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a member church of both
the LWF and WCC.  "We have sought to support the churches in the
region, especially those in Burundi and Rwanda, in their efforts
to bring peace and healing to their societies," said Davies.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia
Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956