Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bujumbura (Agenzia Fides) - "Thou shalt not kill". With reference to the fifth commandment the Bishops of Burundi invite Burundians to work for peace in the Country which is experiencing the worst crisis since the civil war ended in 2003, after President Pierre Nkurunziza was re-elected for a third term in violation of the Constitution.
The Bishops have spoken out on the situation of the Country in a statement issued at the end of their Plenary Assembly in early September. The Bishops stress how a division in the population between those who feel safe and those instead who fear for their lives has been created to the point that several have been forced to flee abroad.
The Bishops condemn the criminal acts that occur daily in particular in the capital Bujumbura, where every night murders occur, and where many people do not sleep in their own home for fear of being kidnapped or killed.
"Poverty threatens the population - write the Bishops, and this increases the drama we are living, since some members of the international community seem to have suspended their aid to Burundi".
The Bishops also deplored the language used in the political debate by both the government and opposition, judging it "threatening and intended to denigrate others. (...). A speech aimed at causing confrontation as if we were at war". A language that is used to awaken the spirit of division of a Country which with a peace agreement would turn the page and take the path of national reconciliation.
After having invited the faithful to pray for peace in the Country, the Bishops appeal urgently to the protagonists of the political crisis so that they sit around a table to "take the necessary measures to enable Burundi to return being a country where everyone feels free and where there is respect for others" (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 12/09/2015)
