Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - "We fear a new war, which would have repercussions throughout the Great Lakes Region and that will provoke another humanitarian catastrophe." This is the alarm raised by Fr. Luigi Lo Stocco, Xaverian Missionary and former director of Radio Maria of Bukavu (capital of South Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo) at the Conference "Europe calls to Africa" that was held November 6 at the Italian Senate. According to the missionary, there are signs of re-armament of from various factions in the area that make us fear the outbreak of a larger conflict than the current one, which continues to claim civilian lives as the world remains indifferent.
The meeting was attended by two other missionaries who have a deep knowledge of the situation in Congo and in particular in the eastern part of the country: Fr. Loris Cattani, Xavierian and member of the "Network for Peace in Congo," and Sister Teresina Caffi, of the Missionaries of Mary. Thanks to the testimony of the missionaries, there was an overview of the history of independent Congo (1960), characterized by war "imposed from outside," as the missionaries have repeatedly emphasized: the secession Katangans (1960-65), the rise of Marshal Mobutu , who ruled the country (which he renamed Zaire in the early '70s) from 1965 until its collapse in 1997, the rise of Kabila's father (1997-2001), the conflict of 1998-2003, the death of Laurent Kabila ( 2001, replaced by his son Joseph) to the current period of "peace,” although marked by instability in the east. The three missionaries have all rejected the interpretation of these conflicts as "ethnic wars", saying they are conflicts over natural resources of the Congo, a strategy for modern industrial societies of the richest countries. "It all boils down to uranium, coltan, nickel; these are the real causes of the conflict," they insisted. For this reason, some Italian parliamentarians have proposed to draw up a bill to create a system for verifying the origin of the minerals purchased by European industries. In this way we want to prevent the Congolese minerals mined under the control of illegal armed groups, from being used to finance the continuation of the war. A similar proposal has already been presented by some U.S. senators (see Fides 30/4/2009). "Arguing about how to prevent the resources of Congo to help finance the war is an important step and in fact, at least two mining companies have withdrawn from the east of Congo; I just hope that we can make this idea feasible," Fr. Cattani told Fides.
"The worst sin of the West towards Africa is the silence of the media," said Fr. Louis, who ended his presentation with a provocative question: "Europe needs Africa, but does Africa need Europe, as we are now turning to other continents to create the infrastructure for its development?
"The problem of African wars is political," said Sister Teresina. "Africans need a political solution to the wars on the continent: it is not about sending peacekeeping troops or humanitarian aid, which create dependence of a people who if left alone, are self-sufficient," said the missionary recalling that women (particularly because of the mass rapes, even against the male population, used to terrorize the inhabitants of the region by forcing them to flee) and children are the main victims of violence. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 7/11/2009)
