NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      BUJUMBURA, Burundi (CWNews.com) - Burundi's government may return Catholic schools seized in the 1970s during the regime of dictator Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, because the government can no longer run them, Education Minister Prospere Mpawenayo said on Monday.

      Mpawenayo said financial considerations have caused the decision. The World Food Program recently stopped sending food assistance to the boarding schools and the problem was exacerbated by a 1996 embargo and the ongoing civil war. The seizure of the schools was part of a program by Bagaza to curtail the power of the Church, which also included the expulsion of foreign religious workers.

      Relations between the government and the Church improved when Maj. Pierre Buyoya overthrew Bagaza. The country's bishops have not yet said whether they will accept the government plan since many of the schools are now old and in need of extensive repairs.