The African Union (AU) on Wednesday ”strongly condemned” the killing of Vatican’s ambassador to Burundi, Archbishop Michael Courtney, who was gunned down in an ambush in the central African country early this week.
The AU said in a statement from its headquarters in Addis Ababa that the chairperson of the pan-African body’s commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, had learned of Courtney’s death with ”consternation and sadness”.
”The chairman of the commission strongly condemns this act perpetrated at a time when the peace process in Burundi has made significant progress,” the statement said. ”No political aim can justify the killing of a man who worked tirelessly for the resolution of the conflict in Burundi,” said the AU, which has deployed a peacekeeping force in Burundi.
It said the African Union would continue to work for the success of the peace process in Burundi, despite the difficulties, and urged Burundi’s last active Hutu insurgent group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), to join the process.
Earlier on Wednesday, the FNL threatened the head of the Catholic Bishops Conference in Burundi, Simon Ntamwana, giving him 30 days to leave the country after he accused them of murdering Courtney in a carefully planned ”execution.” – Sapa-AFP