Syrian Christians living in fear and insecurity ( dal net dei cattolici irlandesi )

["valeria.sonda at alice.it" <valeria.sonda at alice.it>]

http://www.cinews.ie/article.php?artid=10648

Syrian Christians living in fear and insecurity

16 agosto

"[...] She warned that the insurgents are targeting religious minorities and executing moderate Sunnis such as journalists, researchers, doctors and engineers in order to pressure their families and communities into supporting an Islamist state.[...]

"[...]She urged the international power brokers, “not to speak with two tongues,” and talk about peace while, “financing battalions of fundamentalists [rebels].” She called for a third way to be given a chance. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>“Mussalaha, which in Arabic means reconciliation, is a community-based non-violent initiative which has emerged from within civil society. Religious, family and ethnic leaders have been meeting to promote peace and reconciliation within Syrian society. It is an alternative to the violence of the insurrection or international military intervention.”The initiative emerged in June in Homs following the attendance of representatives of Alawaites, Sunnis, Christians, Shiites, Arabs and Druze at a meeting that resulted in a number of joint declarations on building peace and mutual respect.[...]"

Life in Syria is becoming increasingly insecure as civilians are daily threatened by violent insurgents, food shortages, a lack of fuel and electricity and general civil disorder, according to a spokesperson for the Catholic Church in the diocese of Homs.

Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross, Superior of the Deir Mar Youcoub monastery in Qara near Homs, told ciNews that in places like Homs and Aleppo, “there is no authority and people are suffering a lot.” She added, “There are a lot of armed gangs; they say that they are rebels or armed insurrectionists but we don’t know if they are bandits.”

The Melkite Greek-Catholic Carmelite was in Dublin to meet the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown on Sunday as well Bishop Noel Treanor in Belfast, and representatives of the Bishops Council for Justice and Peace. She warned that the insurgents are targeting religious minorities and executing moderate Sunnis such as journalists, researchers, doctors and engineers in order to pressure their families and communities into supporting an Islamist state.

Mother Agnes Mariam warned that this campaign of violence is, “destroying the delicate religious and ethnic balance,” in Syria. She appealed to the international community to stop supporting these violent militias, which she said are linked to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, and are guilty of, “atrocities,” against innocent Syrian civilians.

According to the Carmelite nun, the militias are intent on overthrowing the Assad regime in order to establish an Islamist religious state. Mother Agnes Mariam described the international community’s public stance in support of peace as, “paradoxical,” in view of the financial support recently pledged by the UK and the US to the insurgents, who she warned are, “paralysing civilian life.”

The Sunni Muslim rebels are also backed by Sunni-ruled Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, as well as Turkey. “This money will be used for weapons which will increase the violence,” she told ciNews and added, “We know now that those people are not fighting for freedom, they are fighting for their values and those values are not even those of moderate Islam, they are fundamentalist.”

“What has really scandalised us and leaves us in distress is that the Western world seems to be encouraging this rise of sectarian violence just to topple the [Assad] regime,” she commented. According to the UN, as many as two million people have been affected by the Syrian crisis and over one million people have been internally displaced since the conflict began 17 months ago.

She suggested that the armed insurrection is, “producing a totalitarianism that is worse,” than that of the Assad regime. Of the current situation in Syria’s second city of Aleppo, which had a sizeable Christian population before the conflict, she explained that the insurgents, many of whom are foreign, had overrun Aleppo and forced Christian families out of their homes.

“The only solution is for a complete ceasefire and dialogue from within Syria and for all factions to enter into a movement of reconciliation and of dialogue,” she suggested.

“We want first of all to stop violence.”

She urged the international power brokers, “not to speak with two tongues,” and talk about peace while, “financing battalions of fundamentalists [rebels].” She called for a third way to be given a chance.

“Mussalaha, which in Arabic means reconciliation, is a community-based non-violent initiative which has emerged from within civil society. Religious, family and ethnic leaders have been meeting to promote peace and reconciliation within Syrian society. It is an alternative to the violence of the insurrection or international military intervention.”

The initiative emerged in June in Homs following the attendance of representatives of Alawaites, Sunnis, Christians, Shiites, Arabs and Druze at a meeting that resulted in a number of joint declarations on building peace and mutual respect.

Referring to the antiquity of Christianity in the region, Mother Agnes Mariam described Syria as, “a cradle of Christian civilisation. Damascus is a most ancient capital and a rich fabric of confessions. Syria is the cradle of monotheism and it saw the spread of Christianity very early because St Paul was converted in Damascus."

She added, "The international Roman road from Jerusalem to Rome crossed Syria and the apostles passed through Syria. Antioch, which was once part of the Roman province of Syria, is where Christians got their name.”