AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - DEHONIAN MISSIONARIES WONDER WHY THE UNITED NATIONS MAKES NO EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION IN CONGO?

Friday, 23 May 2003

Rome (Fides Service) – “We voice deep concern for the tragic events in recent weeks in eastern regions of the RDC and particularly in the Ituri region and surrounding areas”. The Dehonian Missionaries SCJ say this in a statement issued on 20 May with regard to the violence disrupting Ituri in north-eastern area of Democratic Congo. In the statement the Dehonian Fathers remind the international community of its responsibility with regard to what is happening in Congo: “We are perplexed – they write - by the fact that in this tragic situation the UN forces have neither the possibility nor the mandate to intervene to dissuade the forces of disorder and bearers of death; on the contrary a plan is being advanced to withdraw UN forces from areas considered too dangerous for observers and even for UN troops (Bunia, Komanda, Mambasa…). This would mean that whole peoples in the region will be abandoned to their sad plight, left in the hands of the angry militia capable only of sacking, destroying and killing”. LM (Fides Service 23/5/2003 EM lines 19 Words: 197)


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