Kinshasa (Fides Service) - "At a time when the attention of the international community is focussed on the war in Iraq which has plunged the entire world into anguish, the Secretariat of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (CENCO) recalls with insistence that the Congolese people have a right to peace", this is part of a statement issued on March 20, in which the Secretariat of the Catholic Bishops Conference reminds the world of the forgotten war being fought for years in Democratic Congo. The Secretariat denounces military manoeuvres of armies and guerrilla movements in eastern Congo: "These military operations, which violate international law, threaten to sabotage the peace process started years ago. The Congolese people have a right to peace! Present international interests must not serve as a pretext for depriving an entire people, which has suffered so much, of this elementary right". See statement in French at www.fides.org LM (Fides Service 26/3/2003 EM lines 14 Words: 160)