Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb 17, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Bishops Conference of Haiti is calling on the country’s leaders and politicians to “urgently make the necessary decisions” to end the violence Haiti.
The bishops issued a statement “solemnly” reiterating their invitation “to political and civil leaders” to take this “personal and patriotic decision,” and they called on “the parties involved in the conflict to unblock public transportation routes so that aid groups can bring the necessary humanitarian assistance to the wounded and injured.”
The bishops also appealed to the consciences of the Haitian people “so that every human life may be respected and protected.”
More than 50 people have died since the outbreak of an armed uprising in northeastern Haiti on February 5.
The international organization Aid to the Church in Need published the statements of an anonymous Haitian bishop denouncing the “complete confusion” currently prevailing in the country due to protests against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, adding that “civil war is possible.”