Kinshasa (Fides Service) - The Dehonian Missionaries have issued another statement/appeal with regard the dramatic situation in eastern Democratic Congo. The appeal has been addressed to the President of the European Commission, Roman Prodi, the Italian President Ciampi, and the Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi. Here are a few passages of the appeal and requests for intervention to aid the civilian population. "We renew our formal appeal to whom it may concern: -immediate assistance through the International Red Cross: food, medicine and specialised personnel in Mambasa and many other places affected by the violence; - use every international means possible to guarantee the application of the peace agreement recently signed, so as to restore to Congo its legitimate autonomy and right to life peace and development worthy of human persons; - mobilise and orient in the humanitarian sense the activity of MONUC present in some of the main cities in Congo; - take to heart the plight of thousands of refugees forced to move from place to place, in maximum precariousness, without any assistance and guarantee their return to their legitimate land and a worthy living conditions; - liberate women captured and kept as slaves; - put order in the armed forces.
These objectives are urgent but the absolute priority is to break the isolation of Mambasa, by reopening communications and to arrange for the Red Cross and United Nations aid forces to provide emergency needs for the people and take over the management of this crisis.
We are convinced that by restoring dignity, peace and development to the peoples of Africa, will enrich Europe and the rest of the world from every point of view. As Missionaries working among these people, we appreciate greatly their potential for good and their important values. We know we are loved by them because we are near them in their suffering and e share their struggles and hopes. But we fell that the rich world of the West is ever further away while, without much effort, it could alleviate and even eliminate so much suffering. (Fides Service 8/11/2002)