CNS STORY: Priest urges Zambian official to resign after remarks about church

ZAMBIA-CATHOLICS Aug-11-2009 (500 words) xxxi

Priest urges Zambian official to resign after remarks about church

By Mwansa Pintu
Catholic News Service

LUSAKA, Zambia (CNS) -- A Zambian priest said the nation's information minister should resign for accusing the Catholic Church of complicity in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and comparing it to the current situation in Zambia.

Father Augustine Mwewa, the Ndola Diocese's treasurer general, said Aug. 10 that the minister, Lt. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwasha, was wrong to tell the Zambian Parliament that events leading to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda should serve as an example for Zambia.

"He has shown us how shallow he (is)," Father Mwewa said. "He does not deserve to be where he is."

Shikapwasha made his remarks during an Aug. 7 report to Parliament on recent acts of violence against journalists. The violence allegedly was perpetrated by supporters of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy. The minister accused the church of promoting violence by siding with the media and opposition parties in criticizing the government.

The minister's comments came after the Zambian bishops' conference challenged the government of President Rupiah Banda to stop persecuting and harassing journalists and media that disagree with it.

Shikapwasha claimed the church's decision to "take sides with man rather than with God" could easily lead to widespread violence as happened in Rwanda when it "blindly sided with some newspapers and radio stations, which allegedly fanned out falsehoods and propaganda."

But Father Mwewa questioned whether Shikapwasha understood the history of the Rwandan genocide because, he said, the violence was not promoted by the Catholic Church but by political leaders.

"It was politicians like him who manipulated the situation in Rwanda based on ethnic lines and, as a result, many Catholic priests and members were killed," the priest said.

Father Mwewa said the way bands from the Movement for Multiparty Democracy were beating journalists and other Zambians is similar to what happened in Rwanda because the ruling party orchestrated the violence while the authorities did nothing.

The priest said the Catholic Church and the media stood for justice and denounced evil, and that Shikapwasha could not stop them from addressing the truth.

"Gen. Shikapwasha is trying to curtail the voice of the Catholic Church and the media; he'll never succeed," Father Mwewa said.

He also called on Banda, who is facing mounting pressure to institute political reforms, to discipline the minister.

Father Mwewa's remarks were made just hours after the spokesman for the Zambian bishops' conference, Father Paul Samasumo, demanded an apology from Shikapwasha.

During the Rwandan genocide Catholic churches were the scenes of several of the bloodiest massacres, including the killing of hundreds in Holy Family Church in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Many church officials were questioned in front of Gacaca Tribunals, the traditional Rwandan courts established to try genocide cases.

Nearly 60 percent of Rwandans are Catholic. The church in Rwanda has maintained that, institutionally, it bears no responsibility for the individual actions of a few of its leaders. Church officials have pointed out that individuals of all faiths have been charged with crimes committed during the genocide.

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