Friday, June 28, 2002 11:11:41 PM

Reply from Rev. John Barr to Benny Wenda's Letter to him on 15 June 2002

Dear Benny Wenda,

Warm greetings from the Uniting Church in Australia. I wish express my deep appreciation for your letter dated 15th June 2002. The reason I prepared my report "The Future Could be Genocide" is because I believe passionately that all people have the God-given right to live in peace. All people have the God-given right to be free of situations that deny justice, threaten people with violence and fail to acknowledge the worth of every individual.

I have seen the situation in Maluku where Christian communities and Muslim communities were turned against one another by the evil deeds of provocators. I have seen the situation in East Timor where local Timorese communities were terrorised as pro-Jakarta Militia imposed their rule of violence and intimidation on the wider community. My fear is that similar situations could erupt in your homeland and I believe actions are taking place that are aimed at destabilising Papuan communities and provoking serious conflict.

I greatly suppport Papuan initiatives to establish a "Zone of Peace" in your homeland and the Uniting Church in Australia is always committed to working for peace, justice and reconciliation. We believe violence achieves nothing and it must be condemned.

Meanwhile I shall continue to pray for your safety. I pray that you will have courage and strength during these difficult times. The international community does care for the Papuan people. We are very concerned about the increasing militarisation of your homeland and we condemn the violence that continues to be carried out against your people.

Please know that we are monitoring the situation and are constantly feeding information through our networks all over the world.

Yours sincerely,

Rev John Barr
Executive Secretary
Unity and International Mission
Uniting Church in Australia
PO Box A2266 Sydney South 1235
Australia
Email: jbarr@nat.uca.org.au