The South African Council of Churches, at the invitation of the South African National Defence Force, last week (September 3-5) visited Burundi to give pastoral support to our troops deployed in that country on a peace-keeping mission.

The delegation consisted of 15 clergy persons from different denominations.

The SACC accepted that some of the troops doing duty in Burundi are members of our denominations, and so it would be useful for the SACC church leadership to visit them, and on a first hand encounter, get to know their impressions about this mission.

At another level, the trip in Burundi helped the SACC leadership to interact with the leadership of the National Council of Churches in Burundi, regarding the political situation in Burundi.

The SANDF General-Chaplain, the Reverend Gqiba, who accompanied the SACC delegation to Burundi, played a significant role in facilitating our trip - and our meeting with the church leadership in the war-torn country.

The General-Chaplain’s view about Burundi was that it was important that the SACC church leadership began to grapple with the complex political situation of Burundi, and what the local church leaders were doing to deal with the difficult process of normalising the politics of that country.

There are no easy solutions. The political situation is complex, with a long history of ethnic betrayal and mistrust, resulting in, among other things, the assassination of the country’s first president, Melchior Ndadaye, who was elected by universal suffrage on July 10th 1993. Three months later on October 21st, the President was killed in a military coup.

This resulted in the country being plunged into total chaos of “un-governability”.

It must be said that part of the problem must be laid on the doors of former colonial masters, the Belgians who excluded Hutus, the majority ethnic grouping in Burundi, from educational and administrative fields, to the advantage of Tutsis who were branded the more “superior race”.

Interacting with the ordinary people, the SACC delegation began to understand the complexities of the political situation in Burundi, and the appreciation by ordinary folk there of the work of reconciliation done by the South Africans - including former President Nelson Mandela, and deputy President Jacob Zuma.

As for the role played by the SANDF’s South African Protection Support Detachment deployed there by our government, the SACC delegation has been informed that this unit played an important role to protect the returning exiles wanting to contribute to the peace initiative underway in the country.

The SANDF would also train the local VIP Protection so that it could in time it takes the responsibility of protecting the VIPs returning from exile.

The SACC delegation could also report that it appreciated the work done by the SANDF, and that the local population appeared to have no problem with the presence of the SANDF, and to quote a senior SANDF personnel, “the people of Burundi know and appreciate our presence”.

For further information contact: Fr Joe Mdhlela at 082 456 5548