Leaders converge to curb the crisis in Burundi

GENEVA: Former presidency director general Frank Chikane was among a delegation of world and African church leaders led by the head of the World Council of Churches that visited Burundi as the central African nation teeters on chaos.

Last week President Jacob Zuma was in Burundi as the head of a high-level five-member AU heads-of-state delegation for talks aimed at bringing an end to the Burundi crisis.

It was triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision lastApril to run for a third term‚ which he won in an election in July.

The Geneva-based the council said it sent its general secretary, Reverend Olav Fykse Tveit and other leaders from the council including representatives of the Nairobi-based All Africa Conference of Churches.

Chikane, was in a group that included: Tveit, Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the council’s main governing body, its central committee; Bishop Jan Janssen of the Lutheran Church in Germany; Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa, All Africa Conference of Churches president; Elizabeth Kisiigha, executive director of the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa, Dr Nigussu Legesse of the World Council of Churches staff and Afiwa Alahare of the All Africa Conference of Churches staff.

They were in Burundi until yesterday.

The ecumenical delegation representing Christians from many traditions was to meet religious leaders, government officials and the opposition.

In a joint statement on December 18, the World Council of Churches, and all Africa council, observed that the polit- ical crisis in Burundi “has latterly been marked by brutal violence, targeted attacks, extrajudicial killings, severe oppression and the incitement of communal tensions.”

“We appeal to the government and political leadership of Burundi to step back from the path of violence on to the path of peace,” they said.

They called for, “responsible leadership that does not tolerate complicity in the killings and other serious violations now so obviously prevalent in the country,” and were expected to reiterate their calls on this trip. – Independent Foreign Service