AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - “In this region so generously given to us by God we must live side by side and in peace and harmony not in endless war” says Catholic Archbishop of Bukavu in eastern Congo where fighting is said to have resumed

Thursday, 28 June 2007

Bukavu (Agenzia Fides) - Democratic Congo once again faces another war in an area already devastated by a long and bloody African conflict which killed 5 million people in general silence: this is the warning issued by Archbishop Francois-Xavier Maroy of the diocese of Bukavu, in the east of DRC. A month ago the archbishop said there was a real danger of fresh outbreaks of fighting (see Fides 31 May 2007).
The archbishop says villages and towns in southern Kivu are in a psychosis of war with all the elements of another conflict and he calls for a concrete and swift intervention by the international community.
Among the alarm signals, the most disquieting was a massacre at Kaniola, in Walungu, during the night of May 26 this year which called to mind similar earlier killings (see Fides 28 May 2007).
Archbishop Maroy calls on the president of DRC to shoulder his responsibilities and send special troops to ward off the imminent war in southern and northern Kivu before it is too late; those who are elected by the people must work to guarantee the people's security but more especially members of the international community present in this part of Africa must not repeat the errors which cost the lives of thousands of innocent men and women who trusted in protection from them but they remained inert.
“We are natural neighbours of the peoples of Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda - said the Archbishop of Bukavu and he concluded: “In this region so generously given to us by God we must live side by side and in peace and harmony, not in endless war. What is the point of another war which would only impoverish our people even more and create useless enmity? ‘Blessed are the peace makers for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5, 9). No more war. The world longs for peace. I ask you to be the voices of the voiceless who die every day in our villages. We express our sympathy to all the many families who mourn their loved ones, and may our brothers and sisters killed in Kaniola rest in peace”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 28/6/2007 righe 33 parole 446)


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