Six Melanesian brothers confirmed dead.Honiara, Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, independent Commonwealth nation (2005 est. pop. 538,000), c.15,500 sq mi (40,150 sq km), SW Pacific, E of New Guinea. The islands that constitute the nation of the Solomon Islands—Guadalcanal, Malaita, New Georgia, the Santa Cruz Islands, (ACNS ACNS Application and Content Networking System (Cisco) ACNS American Conference on Neutron Scattering ACNS American Clinical Neurophysiology Society ACNS Academic Computing and Networking Services ACNS Automated Copyright Notice System , Staff) -- Six members of the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious order Anglican religious orders are organisations of laity and/or clergy in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule. They are to be distinguished from Holy Orders, the sacrament which bishops, priests, and deacons receive. , were murdered last May while they were held captive by rebel leader Harold Keke and his militia, according to police on the Solomon Islands. The news was confirmed in early August after an Australian-led intervention force arrived on the Solomons in late June. The six men had traveled to the west coast of the island of Guadalcanal in April to retrieve the body of another member of the order, Brother Nathaniel Sado, who had been killed by Keke's forces. In a pastoral letter dated Aug. 8, Bishop Peter Fox of the diocese of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (păp`  ə, –y wrote, "The brothers were put to death within a very short time of their going into the troubled area to retrieve Brother Nathaniel's body." Archbishop peter Jensen of the diocese of Sydney and metropolitan of New South Wales New South Wales, state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. , said in a statement that he felt "profound shock and deep grief" at the news. "The brothers' deaths are a tremendous loss for the Melanesian Brotherhood, for the Church of Melanesia and the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea came into existence as a discrete province of the Anglican Communion when the Anglican Province of Papua New Guinea was separated from the Anglican ecclesiastical Province of Brisbane, Australia, in 1976 following PNG's independence. and for the whole church," said Bishop Terry Brown, diocesan bishop of Malaita in the Solomons and a former mission worker with the Anglican Church of Canada. Since the disappearance of Brothers Robin Lindsay, Francis Tofi, Alfred Hilly, Patteson Gatu, Ini Partabatu and Tony Sirihi, conflicting reports had emerged of their whereabouts. "At one stage we were even told that the brothers had been released," said Bishop Fox in his letter. "Sadly, these reports were all false." The Melanesian Brotherhood has been involved in several peacemaking Peacemaking See also Antimilitarism. Agrippa, Menenius Coriolanus’s witty friend; reasons with rioting mob. [Br. Lit.: Coriolanus] Antenor percipiently urges peace with Greeks. [Gk. Lit. efforts in the Solomon Islands, which has seen fighting by various warring factions in the past few years. "We are praying for peace with justice for the people of the Solomons," said Archbishop Jensen. At press time, Mr. Keke and two of his lieutenants had surrendered tb peacekeepers. The rebel leader was charged with attempted murder, firearms possession and "running an unlawful society" and the lieutenants also face murder charges. At a hearing held in a makeshift courtroom in Honiara, Mr. Keke denied the charges, and requested the assistance of a foreign lawyer. |
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