AFRICA/BURUNDI - “People’s trust in the Church derives from the years of the civil war when the clergy stayed by their people” says the President of the Burundian Bishops’ Conference

Rome (Fides Service)- “People trust the Church, this is why priests and religious will be among those watching to see the election is fair and free” said Bishop Jean Ntagwarara of Bubanza who is President Burundian Bishops, presently in Rome for the ad limina visit.
“Rev. Astore Kana has been appointed spokesman of the independent national electoral commission and there are priests and religious in provincial electoral committees. These people represent the Church in Burundi not themselves. The people trust the Church and so the country’s political parties are certain that the presence of our representatives in the electoral commissions will guarantee fair elections” the Bishop told Fides.
On June 3 there will be local elections in Burundi followed by other votes and the presidential elections in August.
“People’s trust in the Church derives from the years of the civil war when the clergy stayed by their people, and share in their suffering, because we are part of the people” the Bishop said.
He is confident that peace will be restored also in the light of recent agreements between the President of Burundi Domitien Ndayizeye and Agathon Rwasa, leader of the National Liberation Forces the only remaining active armed group (see Fides 16 May 2005). “People are tired of war that want peace and most people want it because it is the only way forward” the Bishop said.
“The Church still faces the task of healing wounds caused by civil war, spiritual and material. We must first of all eliminate hatred by promoting a culture of peace. We know this is a long term task for the Christian community. It requires great patience and perseverance”.
“We must also help to rebuild the foundation of society, the family. Civil war separated many families and killed many fathers so that now we have many widows and orphans. Besides this there is also the scourge of AIDS which is a serious problem. AIDS has spread because of promiscuity in refugee camps and the fact that husbands and wives were separated because of war. We need a major intervention by the international community to fight this. On the material level the war left enormous destruction. If we want to give a future to the new generations we must re-launch the country’s economy and here too the intervention and solidarity of the international community is necessary. The local Church also suffered considerable material damage. I will give only one example. When I was installed in the diocese of Bubanza in 1998, 20% of the places of worship were completely destroyed”, Bishop Ntagwarara said
“We face an enormous task which we undertake trusting firmly in the help of God ” the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Burundi concluded. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/5/2005 righe 46 parole 559)