AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - “The important conquests of peace in recent years must not be called into question again” the new president of the Association of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Central Africa warns

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides)- “We need peace and stability to work in the interests of our peoples” said Rwandan Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro one of the two vice presidents of Association of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC), during a press conference at the end of the 9th ACEAC assembly held in Kinshasa, capital of Democratic Congo. The Bishops of ACEAC (Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda) elected Archbishop Simon Ntamwana of Gitega (Burundi) new ACEAC president.
“Our countries are fields of ruin devastated by sacking and war. They are destroyed at every level” said Bishop Misago. However the new ACEAC president launched a sign of hope speaking of “significant progress” made to consolidate peace in the region. “The arms no longer crackle as they did a few years ago. Our peoples accept one another reciprocally and share life” said the Archbishop of Gitega who warned however "the important conquests of peace in recent years must not be called into question again”.
Bishop Misago said the message launched by the Bishops of Democratic Congo, Rwanda e and Burundi in 1999 “Stop the war you are all brothers and sisters” is still relevant. The most concerning situation is in the eastern RDC region of Kivu, where infiltrated armed groups continue to harass the people. Yesterday 20 June a delegation of the United Nations Security Council called on the government of D. Congo to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the area through political and diplomatic channels.
The Catholic Bishops of the Great Lakes Region expressed profound reserve with regard to the Maputo Protocol signed in the capital of Mozambique in July 2003, because represents “a threat to the values of Christian morals and African culture”. The regional Church is concerned in particular about article 14, 2 of the Protocol which guarantees “protection for the reproductive rights of women authorising medical abortion in cases of rape, incest, or in the case of danger for the physical or mental life of the mother or child ” (see Fides 26 January 2006). “This statement makes the Maputo Protocol a most favourable tool for the right to abortion” say the members of ACEAC and they call on African governments who have not already done so, not to ratify the document. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 21/6/2007 righe 37 parole 442)