wfn.org | Global Board Urges Peace in African Great Lakes Region

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 6, 1996

GLOBAL BOARD URGES PEACE IN AFRICAN GREAT LAKES REGION
96-25-075-AH

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Division for Global
Mission, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, urged measures
including sanctions to bring about peace and reconciliation in
the Great Lakes region of East Africa.  In the action taken at
its meeting here Oct. 23-26 the board cited "the dire situation
for refugees, displaced persons and the civilian population in
the countries of the Great Lakes region."
     As the board acted, change was underway in East Africa;
hundreds of thousands of refugees in Eastern Zaire fled open
warfare between the Zaire military and the ethnic Tutsi people of
Zaire known as Banyamulenge.
     The board noted "the impact on the future of democracy and
the rule of law in the region of the July 1996 coup d'etat
against the democratically-elected government of Burundi."
     Amani Mwenegoha, secretary general of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Tanzania, called upon the ELCA and the U.S.
government "to support sanctions imposed against the Burundi
military government which is a threat to peace and democracy in
Africa."
     He said, "The African leaders have taken the initiative; it
is high time your government supports this initiative."
Mwenegoha addressed the board as a guest.
     Mwenegoha reminded the board of the 1994 "genocide in Rwanda
and the resultant mass exodus of refugees into neighboring
countries of Tanzania and Zaire," the coup d'etat which toppled
President Ndadaye in Burundi and "Pierre Boyoya who usurped up
power in Burundi since July this year."
     Mwenegoha said, "For the first time since African states
gained political independence in the early '60s, African leaders
in the Great Lakes region, led by Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, have
taken an unprecedented and serious decision to impose political
and economic sanctions against the military junta in Burundi"
until peace and democracy is restored there.  "This is the first
most serious attempt by African leaders to solve their own
problems," he said.
     "Dictatorships should not be allowed to thrive in Africa,"
Mwenegoha said.  "We need your support to nurture our newly-born
baby in Africa, democracy."
    Mwenegoha said his church is "generally supportive" of the
sanctions, "although we know the negative implications and
ethical controversies of imposing sanctions against a country."
     Buyoyo, leader of Burundi, has "in cold blood, murdered the
Archbishop Joachim Ruhuna of the Roman Catholic Church in
Burundi, for taking up his prophetic role, when the archbishop
called upon the Tutsi military and the Hutu military to stop
senseless killings of innocent people in Burundi and to negotiate
a peaceful solution," Mwenegoha said.
     He called upon the international community to "establish an
independent commission to investigate the murder of this
archbishop so that the truth is known and the culprits are
brought to justice."
     The Division for Global Mission board called upon ELCA
Church Council to ask units of the church to advocate for such a
commission, "in consultation and cooperation with its ecumenical
partners, with the U.S. government, the United Nations, and other
governments and governmental bodies."
     The action called for advocacy to "utilize economic and
political measures, as may be appropriate, including the possible
imposition of sanctions against the military regime in Burundi,
to bring about an end to the strife in that nation and to foster
a climate more conducive to peace and reconciliation throughout
the Great Lakes region."
     In September the Central Committee of the World Council of
Churches issued a statement lamenting the assassination of
Archbishop Ruhuna and condemning "the continued use of violence
by the armed groups and the military in Burundi to destroy
innocent civilian life and property in the country."  The WCC
called on the military leadership "to take immediate steps to
reestablish constitutional rule."

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service, (312)
380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312)
380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG