Citation
VATICAN CITY, April 9 (Reuter) - A Rwandan Roman Catholic bishop said
on Saturday his country's delegation could not take part in the opening
of the Vatican's synod of African bishops on Sunday.
Monsignor Jean-Berchmans Nterere told the Italian news agency ANSA that
the grave situation in Rwanda
would prevent the country's delegation
from attending Sunday's ceremonies.
Nterere, who arrived in Rome on Friday, said the delegation, made up of
himself and four other bishops, would join the synod later only if the
situation in the central African country improved.
Rwanda lurched towards all-out civil war on Saturday after two days of
tribal fighting following Wednesday's assassination of President
Juvenal Habyarimana and his counterpart form neighbouring Burundi.
The Vatican's synod of African bishops will go on until May 8 and will
discuss the political, economic and religious problems of the world's
poorest continent.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
