Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - "We are daily witnesses to incidents that are astonishing on how frequent and repeated they are: they cause victims, people arm themselves with machetes and sometimes with guns, they destroy and burn, as if one were in the presence of a deployed enemy or the purpose of elections were to destroy the country rather than to build it, or the elections are intended to kill rather than to promote and uphold life". This is how Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, condemned the climate of violence and tensions that have poisoned the campaign for the presidential elections of 28 November in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Speaking yesterday, November 10, in Kinshasa, the Cardinal expressed the people’s concern for the violence that continue, especially in the capital, where "there is fear and tension, uncertainty, which have re-exploded". "How can we trust government leaders who fail to protect the population? How can we elect leaders who do not give us the guarantees of peace, justice, truth and love for the people"? The cardinal added, that he will ask everyone to work to ensure that elections are conducted in a secure and serene climate.
From October 28, starting date of the election campaign, several people were injured in clashes between supporters of the outgoing President Kabila and those of the opposition, in particular in Kinshasa and in the cities of Mbuji-Mayi and Lubumbashi. Strong criticism was also raised due to the appeal of one of the candidates, Etienne Tshisekedi, "to break the doors of the prisons" if within 48 hours they had not released some of his supporters arrested earlier. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 11/11/2011)
