AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REP. CONGO - IN BUNIA APPARENT CALM CHARGED WITH TENSION. BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES CALL ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO INTERVENE TO PREVENT MORE VIOLENCE

Tuesday, 13 May 2003

Kinshasa (Fides Service) – “In Bunia there is relative calm but ethnic revenge is feared” a Missionary of Africa in Congo tells Fides Service. The missionary, a White Father, asked not to be named for security reasons. “The Hema militia of the Union Patriotic of Congo have taken control of the city. The danger is now that they may take revenge on the Lendu people for the massacre of Hema people in the last few days” says the missionary, “in any case violence may explode again any moment, there are many armed groups roving around. The international community is not doing as much as it could to put an end to the violence which has devastated Congo for years. In Bunia there is a UN peace keeping mission, MONUC, but these troops have difficulty in stopping the fighting. What is needed is more decisive action to disarm the different factions guarantee a minimum of security”.
According to the missionary “precisely the lack of security has forced many NGOs operating in Bunia to move their personnel to safer areas. Only the Church remains with the people, with those who have not yet fled the city. About 900 have been given shelter at the White Father’s mission where they sought safety”. Unfortunately church structures are not always spared in the violence. Last Sunday Nyakasanza parish was attacked and 48 people were killed as well as two priests.
Because of the war in Bunia region, the present apostolic administrator, Bishop Janvier Kataka Luvete of Wamba is unable to visit the diocese. “Since 6 April the situation of violence in Bunia has prevented me from going to the diocese” Bishop Kataka tells Fides Service “it is a cause of great sadness not to be able to be close to the people entrusted to me by the Holy Father.”
The Bishops of the Kisangani region issued a statement on the dramatic situation in Bunia, signed by Bishop Monsengwo Pasinya, they say: “the situation is too serious for us to remain silent. As Bishops we firmly denounce this fratricidal violence which threatens to decimate the population of Ituri. We call on the sides to put an end to the cycle of violence and to take without effective steps towards peace, forgiveness and reciprocal reconciliation”.
The Bishops call on “MONUC, the United Nations Security Council, the major world powers and all those involved in the process of democratisation in Congo to take strong and effective measures for the cessation of hostilities in Ituri and in the Democratic Republic of Congo”. LM (Fides Service 13/5/2003 EM lines 39 Words: 487)


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