In the communiqué sent on behalf of the entire Church of Myanmar, the Cardinal laments “the innocent persons abandoned in the camps”, “the land disseminated with mines”, “human trafficking”, “drugs” and the looting of natural resources, like the jade mines. “This is the main cause of the conflict”.
The Salesian Prelate lived for 22 years with the kachin population and recalls that he has “known their pain and their tears”. Tears started flowing again with greater intensity since 2011, when the Burmese army broke a “ceasefire” that had lasted for 17 years and unleashed a vast military offensive against the kachin people, creating a wave of refugees and a humanitarian emergency.
Because of this, “an effort of peace and justice is requested, an effort to be pursued with sincerity” aiming at constructing a “rainbow nation with a federative system”. The appeal invites institutions “to bring all the parties of the conflict to a negotiation desk”, and asks armed kachin groups “to explore new paths of peace, to participate in conferences of peace”, given that “war is always unjust”.
The message of reconciliation signed by Cardinal Bo implicitly recalls the homily he himself delivered on Sunday, June 12th, in Yangon, during the Eucharist celebrated on the occasion of Communication Day, in which he said: “We must listen to the profound causes of these conflicts, we need to build bridges among cultures, to bring mercy (…) to listen to the victims, but also to the authors of these crimes and to communicate a message of hope”.
Source: Fides
