—Catholic Archbishop Joachim Ruhuna was murdered in an ambush on his car September 9 near the town of Gitega in Burundi. His bullet-ridden body was discovered two miles away in an unmarked grave on September 18. Ruhuna, a 62-year-old Tutsi, had condemned the ethnic killings between Hutu rebels and the Tutsi minority in the predominantly Catholic country. More than 150,000 people have died in ethnic fighting in Burundi since 1993.

—Ronald J. R. Mathies, 56, of Elmire, Ontario, Canada, is the new executive director of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the international relief-and-development agency of the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. Mathies succeeds John A. Lapp, who retired after holding the post for 11 years. The MCC, founded in 1920 to assist Russian famine victims, has 900 workers in 50 nations.

Last Updated: October 10, 1996