AFRICA/CÔTE D'IVOIRE - An “appeal for tolerance to avoid further violence” launched online by the parish priest for the port of Abidjan

AFRICA/CÔTE D'IVOIRE - An “appeal for tolerance to avoid further violence” launched online by the parish priest for the port of Abidjan

Abidjan (Agenzia Fides) - “We need to continue to launch appeals for peace through parish networks, also via the internet – at least in the areas where it still works – because religious leaders need to appeal to peoples' spirits, asking them to be tolerant,” says Scalibrinian priest Fr Celestine Ikomba to Fides, parish priest and chaplain for the port of Abidjan, where a fierce battle is currently raging, driven by the Republican Forces (for President-elect Alassane Ouattara), to take the Presidential Palace and the residence of the Head of State (of outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo). Every attempt to convince Gbagbo to release power has failed.
“Those who still have working internet, can read this message, and those who do not will hear the message passed on verbally from parish to parish, to spread the appeal for tolerance. Every effort must be made in this regard,” says Fr Celestine. Following weeks of fighting, the humanitarian situation in the Country has worsened. According to the UN, displaced Ivorians are more than one million. Even in Abidjan, the economic and administrative capital of the Country, humanitarian conditions are severe. The property of the Church has been made available to displaced persons, as Fr Celestine states: “in the parish at the port dedicated to St Anthony, only yesterday we welcomed 80 refugees fleeing the fighting, for whom we are trying to find ways to nurture and support.” (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 6/4/2011)