Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Fides Service)- Joseph Kabila President of Congo is visiting eastern Congo, a region held by antigovernment guerrillas for a long time. Yesterday 17 October the President went to the main town Kisangani where among other things he attended an interreligious service led by the Catholic Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya who is also President of the Bishops’ Conference. “In his address Archbishop Monsengwo said the country needed a new class of leaders to build a new Congo” local sources told Fides. “The President’s visit to regions for a long time controlled by the rebels was a step on the path back to normality” the sources said. “Sadly the President had to cut the visit short. He will not go to Goma or Bukavu; officially because he had to return to the capital Kinshasa to take part in a meeting of heads of state and government of Great Lakes region countries, unofficially due to serious concern for his safety”.
For a long time Goma and Bukavu in eastern Congo were controlled by the Congolese Union for Democracy RCD the main rebel group formed mainly of Banyamulenge, Congolese Tutsi originally from Rwanda. “However Kabila’s visit to these towns has been postponed not cancelled and one of his ministers was sent to Bukavu to arrange the visit” the local sources told Fides.
Democratic Congo is ruled by an interim government following a peace agreement reached in 2003 which included representatives of the different parties and rebel groups. General elections next year, 2005, should mark the end of the transition period. Democratic Congo was devastated by a civil war from 1998 to 2003, involving troops from Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia (and for a time also Chad and Sudan) fighting alongside Kinshasa’s troops to repress various guerrilla movements in eastern Congo in turn supported by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Between 2.5 and 3 million people were killed and several million displaced. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 18/10/2004 righe 32 parole 419)
