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John Paul prays for end of "absurd" civil war |
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August 31, 2000
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Calling the 7-year civil war there "absurd," Pope John Paul II implored combatants in Burundi's civil war to commit genuinely to a lasting peace. John Paul noted Monday's signing of the central African country's "first, partial peace accord" without expressing any optimism it would hold. Burundi already has "bloodied by seven absurd years of civil war," he said. "I ask you to pray so that the populace's desire for reconciliation will come to be realized by all the interested parties and the neighboring states, so that a lasting and stable peace can be reached quickly, for the good of the entire Great Lakes region," John Paul told pilgrims gathered at his summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo for his regular Wednesday audience. Under intense international pressure, Burundi's president signed a peace accord Monday with U.S. President Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and 12 African leaders looking on. But Burundi's Hutu rebels and four out of 10 Tutsi political parties boycotted signing of the power-sharing agreement, which - crucially - lacks a cease-fire provision. Tutsis dominate the army and economy of Hutu-majority Burundi. Civil war broke out in 1993 upon the assassination of Burundi's first and only democratically elected president, a Hutu. Fighting since then has killed 200,000 people in the nation of roughly 6 million. About two-thirds of Burundi's people are Roman Catholic. |