wfn.org | Burundi Churches Call For Peaceful Transition

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March 31, 2001
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

Church Leaders In Burundi Call For Peaceful Transition

Bujumbura, Burundi.      At least twenty
representatives of religious organisations in
Burundi, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
called on March 15 for the cessation of hostilities
before the formation of a transition government in
the country.

Politicians in Burundi are deeply divided over
arrangements of the transition with some favouring
President Paul Buyoya to hold on and deal with the
civil war situation.

Others advocate a leadership according to decisions
taken at the Arusha talks with more legitimacy to
undertake negotiations with the rebel movements on
cessation of hostilities.

But Archbishop Simon Ntanwana of the Gitega diocese
in Central Burundi said that though discussions about
the priorities of the movement were necessary, a
cease-fire should first be secured before peaceful
transition institutions are establishment.

Observers say that Ntanwana's remarks at the end of a
two- hour meeting between Buyoya and religious
leaders  fall in line with the official viewpoint of
present authorities in Bujumbura. "I would be very
surprised that we can successfully establish a
reliable political system while many partners in the
inter-Burundi talks are still in the marquis or in
exile", Ntamwana observed. The prelate, who
considered that "the rebel groups cannot be ignored
in the building of institutions of national unity and
have never said they have given up", urged them to
quickly join the inter-Burundi talks which need to be
"all-inclusive in order to bear hope for a lasting
peace".

Minister Jean Ntduwayo, representing Burundi's
Protestant community, made a similar assessment of
the situation. "It is unthinkable to set up lasting
political institutions on the ruins of persisting war
in the country," he said, calling on leaders of the
sub-region to pursue "efforts aimed at guaranteeing
peace in Burundi."

Fresh fighting in the north of Bujumbura prompted the
Seventh-day Adventists to move to the forefront of
the country's political crisis after their churches
were destroyed during fighting between the army and
National Liberation Front rebels (FNL).

Pastor Uzziel  Habigabwa, president of the Adventist
Burundi Mission and also responsible for Public
Affairs and Religious Liberty Department of the
Adventist Church, lamented that the violence in
Burundi "does not even spare places of worship", and
urged the warring parties to immediately agree to
cease-fire.

FNL fighters claiming to be members of the Adventist
Church often perpetuate attacks while singing
religion and holding the Bible in one hand, and the
gun in the other.

"We are a deeply religious country and if a
Protestant, a Catholic, an Adventist or any other
person commits a crime, it does not mean that it is
necessarily because of his religious faith that he
does," Habigbwa said in criticism to the habit of
generalisation.

Meanwhile, Ntamwana described the indiscriminate acts
of destruction of places of worship as "profane",
adding that the sacrilege of the sacred
"unfortunately starts with the initial gesture of
killing a creature of God".

"I deeply regret the way the Kimana Adventist church
was treated", he added, saying it was a "heinous
crime".

He condemned "those who use the Bible to enchant
themselves and enchant their environment". About 70
percent of Burundi's population are Catholics,
followed by Muslims who make up 18 percent. This is
why the Roman Catholic Church has to be reckoned with
when it comes to decisions about the country's
political orientation. It had played a decisive role
in the return of constitutional legality after the
foiled 1993 coup against the democratically elected
President, Melchior Ndadaye.

Observers believe that Catholics had sensitised the
citizens to unseat the "tough" regime of the former
president, Col. Jean- Baptiste Bagaza.

Bagaza had then declared his candidature to succeed
Biya who earlier overthrew him.

The Adventist Church has operated in Burundi since
1931, and has been reorganized in 1984.  There are
more than 150,000 Adventist Christians, including
61,300 baptized adult members in this central African
country, worshiping in some 136 churches.