Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - A day of "dead city", with offices and shops closed to protest against the deterioration of the security situation, has been declared for tomorrow, October 31, by the Coordination of Civil Society in Bukavu, capital of South Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. According to a statement sent to Fides Agency, the protest was decided during a meeting held on October 27, which was attended by the various associations of the civil society who analyzed the security situation in North and South Kivu.
The picture that came out is worrying: the presence of various armed groups engaged in threats, extortion and violence against the population; kidnappings and assassinations of leaders and personalities; weakening of the authority of the State; impoverishment of the population ill-treated by taxes and often illegal abusive; employment, slow but progressive,of portions of the national territory by foreign groups or linked to external powers. In these days doctor Denis Mukwege, engaged for years in helping women victims of sexual violence, was forced to leave Bukavu, after having escaped an armed attack against his residence (see Fides 29/10/2012).
"Insecurity affects everyone, young and old, men and women," said the statement, which ends with this story: "I came to look for the slim, I did not say anything because I am not slim; they came to look for Christians, I did not say anything because I am not Christian; they came to look for the rich, I did not say anything because I am not rich. When they came looking for me, they took me away because there was no one to talk to. "(L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 30/10/2012)
