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World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
13 March 1997

HASTY RECONCILIATION AND QUICK FORGIVENESS NOT POSSIBLE IN
RWANDA SAYS WCC OFFICIAL

*Reconciliation and forgiveness in Rwanda will be the result of a long,
long journey*, says Genevieve Jacques, a specialist in international
affairs for the World Council of Churches (WCC).

However, Ms Jacques, who has just returned from a visit to the country,
says Rwanda is currently under heavy pressure from the international
community for hasty reconciliation and quick forgiveness.

*This is deeply hurting those who had loved ones killed in the genocide
which swept the country in 1994", says Jacques.  *Today is still a time
of heavy silence between the Rwandans.  External pressure for
reconciliation and forgiveness shows a complete lack of understanding
that it is only three years since the genocide and that this was the result
of a deep and long-standing ideology based on ethnic division*.

Jacques was in Rwanda to attend a Pan-African Conference on Peace,
Gender and Development organised by the government.  She then went
on to a seminar organised by the Protestant Council of Rwanda (CPR)
which considered the theme *Christianity Before, During and After the
Genocide in Rwanda*.  She was also able to attend a separate
workshop for church women.

The CPR seminar brought together a broad cross-section of some 60
Tutsi and Hutu church leaders from different denominations, including
some pastors who had recently returned from refugee camps in Goma,
Zaire.

*Rwanda is a small country which is deeply traumatised*, says Jacques.
 *It consists of those who are victims and those who realise that people
within their own families were involved in the killings.*

In the workshop she attended, Jacques saw the organiser put the
participants under heavy moral pressure, based on Christian principles,
to forgive those who had done them wrong.  However, one woman
wrote on the wall, *How can I forgive as nobody has yet come to me to
ask for forgiveness!'.

Jacques says Rwanda is facing monumental problems.  *The situation is
overwhelming with 70% of the population made up of women and
children.  Millions are deeply traumatised.*  Pointing to the large burden of
international debt with which Rwanda has to deal, Jacques says one of
the awful ironies of the current situation is that the present 

government is servicing a debt which includes monies used by the
previous administration to buy the machetes and other weapons used in
the genocide.

*The people of Rwanda badly need to learn again how to walk together
and work together and there are signs that this is happening*, says
Jacques.  Returning refugees to Kibongo province last December found
their former homes and lands occupied by others.   However, Jacques
was told there are many examples of the two groups sharing a house
until they can build a new one together.  Land also is being shared. 
*These are positive signs of the acceptance of the other, that the other
has a right to exist.  This is not reconciliation but it is a very important
step along the way.*
 
*Today, everybody is doing reconciliation!* complains Jacques.  *Just as
the whole world came to Rwanda with humanitarian aid after the
genocide, now there is an huge influx of people coming to *do
reconciliation'.*   Jacques herself met one independent missionary from
Minnesota, USA, who had come to *reconcile the Rwandans'!  *He did not
speak French or the local language.  He was dressed with bracelets,
rings, blue jeans and a wide leather belt.  All he lacked was the cowboy
hat!*

However, Jacques is also critical of mainstream churches and the
worldwide ecumenical family.  *Previously there were 12 Protestant
denominations in Rwanda; now there are 48.  The fragmentation in
Rwanda is a reflection of our own ecumenical fragmentation and it does
not help.*

Jacques says the international ecumenical family must be sensitive to the
needs of Rwanda. *We need to be aware uncoordinated work is
divisive.  We must come to a common assessment of the history and
theology which underlies the recent tragic events in the country and we
must accompany the process of healing and listen to what Rwandan
churches are asking for.*

*Financial aid is needed to implement plans for women and young people,
for example.  But the Rwandese churches and Christian organisations
also need to be equipped to face the tremendous task of reconciliation. 
We may be able to bring others who have faced similar challenges of
truth, justice and reconciliation to Rwanda and share experiences.  The
current needs are spiritual, sociological and psychological.  The
Rwandans need to feel they are not alone.*

Jacques believes a declaration produced by the CPR seminar is very
important.  *This is a tremendous step forward by Rwandan churches
because for the first time they formally acknowledge the churches'
complicity in and responsibility for the genocide.*  The declaration also
says the church must be deeply involved in the process of reconciliation.
 The full text (French and English only) is available upon request.

Genevieve Jacques is available for interview.  She speaks English,
French and Spanish.

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 330, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but
works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the
Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC
was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.
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