THE Archbishop of Canterbury has urged people to pray for the “deeply troubled” nation of Burundi, in the wake of his visit this month (News, 4 March).

“Please join the Church in Burundi in prayer through the Easter season to ask God for an end of violence, a return to real peace, and a political solution that will last and be the foundation for the development of one of the poorest nations in the world,” Archbishop Welby said last week. “Cry to the God of all nations and peoples for its peace and the well-being of all its people.”

The call was also issued on Facebook, where one man based in Kenya replied: “If the church leaders in Burundi are silent on what is happening there, even God cannot intervene. . . The leaders here don’t want to leave: they are busy changing the constitution of their countries to suit their needs.The Churches must stand firm with the people and tell the leaders the truth. I support your effort, but after damage.”

A briefing on the Archbishop’s website said that the Anglican Church in Burundi could play “a key role in bringing peace and reconciliation”, given that it had members “on all sides of the political spectrum and of all ethnic groups”. It was “an impartial actor” in the present crisis, which “remains a political rather than an ethnic conflict”.

A specific prayer is available on the site, and Twitter uses are encouraged to use the hashtag #PrayForBurundi.