Title: World Council of Churches: Condemn Violence in Burndi ELCA NEWS SERVICE NEWSBRIEF July 30, 1996 CONDEMN VIOLENCE IN BURUNDI "Since the genocide in Rwanda, the World Council of Churches, its member churches and related church agencies, in cooperation with the All-Africa Conference of Churches, have engaged in intensive programs through ACT (Action by Churches Together) International to provide urgently-needed humanitarian assistance and pastoral support to the victims of this tragedy," said the Rev. Michael Davies, acting general secretary of the WCC. "The World Council of Churches condemns in the strongest terms the continuing massacres in Burundi. The recent killings of another 300 people in Bugendana Camp in the Gitega region represent an escalation of the murders which have now claimed some 150,000 persons since 1993. Once again, the victims have been principally children, women and aged persons. We join in the urgent appeal of the United Nations' Special Delegate to Burundi for urgent international action to prevent this violence in the Great Lakes region from reaching fully genocidal proportions yet again," said Davies on July 25. ACT is a worldwide network of churches and their related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response and common identity. The ACT Network is organizationally based in the Lutheran World Federation and WCC, and is a coordinating rather than an operational office. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a member church of both the LWF and WCC. "We have sought to support the churches in the region, especially those in Burundi and Rwanda, in their efforts to bring peace and healing to their societies," said Davies. For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2958; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956