Irish papal envoy shot dead in Burundi

THE Pope’s representative in Burundi, an Irishman, was shot dead in an ambush yesterday.

Papal Nuncio Archbishop Michael Courtney, aged 58, from Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was returning from a funeral when gunmen opened fire on his car at Minago, 30 miles south of the capital, Bujumbura.

He was hit in the head, the shoulder and the leg, while two other Burundian passengers in the car flying the Vatican flag were slightly injured. Staff at the capital's Prince Louis Rwagasaore hospital gave Archbishop Courtney a blood transfusion and tried to resuscitate him but he died at 2pm from his injuries.

The Burundian government has laid the blame for his death on the National Liberation Forces (FNL), the only rebel group which has not signed up to Burundi's shaky ceasefire. But the FNL has denied this.

"We have nothing against the Papal Nuncio. We have men in the area where he was ambushed, but I swear it wasn't us who attacked him," a rebel spokesman told Reuters news agency.

The Vatican has expressed "deep sorrow" at Archbishop Courtney's death while tributes have also been paid by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Cardinal Desmond Connell.

Archbishop Courtney met other members of the Irish hierarchy, including Bishop Willie Walsh and Bishop John Kirby several weeks ago when they visited neighbouring Rwanda.

He was ordained in 1968 and served in the parishes of Tynagh and Woodford in Galway, but spent most of his career working for the Vatican, becoming one of the Church's most experienced diplomats.

He also worked as a special envoy to the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights for five years.

Archbishop Courtney moved to Burundi in 2000 after being appointed archbishop in his native Nenagh, close to Lough Derg where he liked to sail.

His late father Louis worked in Nenagh for many years as the county surgeon and coroner.

Burundi's civil war, which has killed 300,000 in the last 10 years and forced another 1.2 million to flee their homes, was a source of much outrage to Archbishop Courtney.

When more than 1,200 civilians were massacred in September 2002, he told a Catholic news agency he was 'shocked at the silence' in the western world. He was heavily involved in securing the release of a kidnapped local bishop.

Archbishop Courtney is the eighth Irish missionary to be killed abroad in the last six years. He is survived by his three brothers and three sisters and was due to be appointed Papal Nuncio to Cuba in the new year.