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ETHIOPIA/ERITREA
Pleading for peaceBishops join with Pope in call
Late in May, as new hostilities threatened to cause an outbreak of full-scale war between Ethiopia and its former province, Eritrea, Pope John Paul II sent urgent messages to the presidents of both countries, urging them to end the border war between the two countries.
In similarly worded telegrams, made public by the Vatican on May 25, the Holy Father said that he is “profoundly saddened by the continual hostilities which bring death and destruction to the people and the land of your region.” The Pope told the two leaders—Presidents Issaias Afewerki of Eritrea and Negaso Gidada of Ethiopia—that they should show “the strength and courage to embrace a just and durable peace, based on reconciliation and truth.”
The Pope’s message marked the fourth public statement by the Holy See in the course of one week regarding the war in the Horn of Africa. On May 17, Pope John Paul ended his public audience with a call for peace. Three days later, the Vatican published an appeal issued by the Catholic bishops of the two countries. And on May 23, the Vatican made public a message from Archbishop Berhane-Yesus Demerew Souraphiel of Addis Ababa, revealing that the Church was heavily engaged in peace efforts.
In a May 18 statement, the Eritrean hierarchy called for efforts “immediately to block the road to the possibility of new massacres,” and “not to allow violence to continue to dominate over rationality.” Noting that the two-year-old war between Eritrea and Ethiopia has “entered a more tragic phase in recent days,” the bishops said that their country now “offers a terrifying scene to observers.” Entire regions, they reported, have been transformed into armed camps, while incessant bombings and artillery barrages have left many people dead or wounded, and thousands more homeless. The Eritrean bishops—Bishops Zeccarias Yoannes, Luca Milesi, and Tesfamariam Bedho, of Asmara, Barentu, and Keren respectively—said that international help must come quickly, because “one day of delay could mean the extermination of an entire population, the devastation of a territory.” They said that they “cannot understand, still less justify,” the failure of world leaders to react swiftly in order to stop the killing.