wfn.org | LWF Urges Mozambican Authorities to Expedite Investigation into

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

LWF Urges Mozambican Authorities to Expedite Investigation into Murder of
Brazilian Lutheran Missionary
Shock over Deaconess Doraci Edinger's Killing in Nampula 

GENEVA, 2 March 2004 (LWI) * Following the murder of Brazilian Lutheran
missionary Deaconess Doraci J. Edinger in Nampula, Mozambique, the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) has expressed concern over apparent delays in the
crime's investigation and requested the Mozambican authorities that a
thorough inquiry be "carried out expeditiously and the perpetrators be
brought to justice." 

"We are concerned also by the circumstances of this crime," acting LWF
General Secretary Rev. Dr Piri Rasolondraibe wrote to Mozambican Interior
Minister Almerino Manhenje on February 27, following receipt of information
about the death. 

The 53-year-old woman was a missionary from the Evangelical Church of the
Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) working with the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Mozambique (ELCM) since 1998 within an LWF-supported partnership
program. She was reportedly found dead February 23 in her apartment in
Nampula, 700 km north of the capital Maputo, but the murder has not yet been
clarified by local police.

"We are deeply shocked by this brutal crime. The church in Mozambique, Sister
Doraci's home church in Brazil and the LWF are grieving for her loss,"
Rasolondraibe wrote to Minister Manhenje.

The LWF also sent a letter of condolence to IECLB President Rev. Dr Walter
Altmann, who had traveled to Mozambique, February 25, to make arrangements to
repatriate Edinger's remains. Altmann received the news of Edinger's murder
while in Geneva attending the February 21-23 meeting of the LWF Executive
Committee. He was originally scheduled to travel to Mozambique's port city of
Beira to attend an ELCM meeting, February 26-27. 

An LWF letter to ELCM acting pastor, Dean Hendricks Mavunduse, urged the
church "to do whatever is necessary to help expedite this investigation."

Edinger was born on 13 May 1950 in Santo Antonio da Patrulha, in the state of
Rio Grande do Sul. At age 18 she moved with her parents to Novo Hamburgo,
where her family still lives today. She worked at a shoemaker's and eight
years later decided to become a Lutheran missionary. Her family, parents and
eleven children, have received condolences from the Lutheran community in
Canudos, Novo Hamburgo, the Latin American and Caribbean news agency, ALC,
reports. (373 words)

[The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing 62.3 million of the almost 66 million
Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas
of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)
 
[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless
specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or
opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.]

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