6, June 2021
The Holy Father’s ‘pain’ over bodies found at Canadian indigenous school 0
Pope Francis expressed his “pain” Sunday over the discovery of the remains of 215 children in a mass grave at a former indigenous boarding school in Canada run by the Church.
But he did not go so far as to offer the apology that many people have been calling for over the unfolding scandal.
“I follow with pain the news coming from Canada about the shocking discovery of the remains of 215 children,” he said, following Sunday prayers at Saint Peter’s Square.
The discovery of the remains of the children last month sent shockwaves through Canadian society.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday called on the Catholic Church to take responsibility for its role in the deaths at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.
He has already promised “concrete action” from the government and urged his fellow Catholics in Canada to make it clear to the Church that they expected its full cooperation too.
“Before we have to start taking the Catholic Church to court, I am very hopeful that religious leaders will understand that this is something they need to participate in,” he added.
In his speech Sunday, Pope Francis said: “I unite with the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my solidarity with the Canadian people traumatised by this shocking news.
“The sad discovery further increases awareness of the pain and suffering of the past,” he added.
– ‘Reconciliation and healing’ –
The pope called for Canada’s political and religious leaders to work together to “shed light on this sad matter” and begin the process of “reconciliation and healing”.
But in his comments Friday, Trudeau stressed: “We need to have truth before we can talk about justice, healing and reconciliation.”
UN rights experts on Friday urged both Ottawa and the Vatican to hold swift and thorough investigations into the affair.
On Wednesday, Vancouver Archbishop J Michael Miller offered an apology on behalf of the Church in a statement.
But there have been growing calls for an apology from the pope himself — including from some Canadian government ministers.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was the largest of 139 boarding schools set up in the late 19th century to assimilate Canada’s indigenous peoples, with up to 500 students registered and attending at any one time.
Only 50 deaths were ever officially recorded at the institution, where a principal once pleaded for more funds to properly feed students.
It was operated by the Catholic church on behalf of the Canadian government from 1890 to 1969, before Ottawa took over its administration and closed it a decade later.
Source: AFP
6, June 2021
Burkina Faso: More than 130 killed in deadliest attack 0
Suspected jihadists have massacred at least 138 civilians in Burkina Faso’s volatile north, in the deadliest attacks since Islamist violence erupted in the west African country in 2015, officials said Saturday.
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore denounced an attack near the borders with Mali and Niger, where jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have been targeting civilians and soldiers.
“Several injured have succumbed to their wounds and new bodies have been discovered. The still provisional toll is 138 deaths,” one local official said Saturday evening.
“The bodies were buried in mass graves,” the official said, adding that “there are dozens of injured” after the overnight attack by armed assailants.
“We must remain united and solid against these obscurantist forces,” Kabore said, condemning the massacre in the village of Solhan as “barbaric” and “despicable.”
Declaring three days of national mourning, ending Monday night at 11:59 pm, the government stated that “terrorists,” a term for jihadists, killed civilians of all ages and set fire to homes and the main market.
A security source lamented “the heavy human toll, the worst recorded to date,” while warning it could still increase.
The assailants struck around 2:00 am (0200 GMT) against a position of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Motherland (VDP), an anti-jihadist civilian defence force which backs the national army, before attacking homes and carrying out “executions,” a local source said.
Opposition leader Eddie Komboigo demanded that “the massacre of our people, we never tire of repeating, must stop unconditionally. Every measure must be taken to protect the Burkinabe” people.
The VDP was set up in December 2019 to help Burkina’s poorly-equipped military fight jihadists but it has suffered more than 200 fatalities, according to an AFP tally.
The volunteers are given two weeks’ military training before working alongside the security forces, typically carrying out surveillance, information-gathering or escort duties.
‘Neutralise these terrorists’
The government said that “the defence and security forces are at work to neutralise these terrorists and restore calm to populated areas.”
A security forces official said that men were deployed to secure populated areas and to remove and bury bodies.
Solhan, a small community around 15 kilometres from Sebba, the main city in Yagha province, has suffered numerous attacks in recent years.
On May 14, Defence Minister Cheriff Sy and military top brass visited Sebba to assure people that life had returned to normal, following a number of military operations.
The massive attack by suspected jihadists came hours after another attack Friday evening on Tadaryat village in the same region in which 14 people were killed, including an armed volunteer who had come to help them.
Since 2015 Burkina Faso has struggled to fight back against increasingly frequent and deadly jihadist attacks from groups including the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS).
The attacks first started in the north near the Mali border, but have since spread to other regions, particularly in the east.
Around 1,400 people have died and more than a million have fled their homes.
Source: AFP