The humanitarian and internal security conditions in Goma and Bukavu are extremely serious. In the two cities of North and South Kivu in eastern DRC, occupied by the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group, the population is afraid to go out after sunset and before dawn. Rebels and thousands of prisoners released from jails are on the loose. There is no army, no police, no one to protect them. They do not know who to turn to for help. People go to sleep at night not knowing if they will be alive the next morning. The state army in Bukavu fled without resistance, handing over their weapons. These weapons are now in the hands of teenage gangs who use them to threaten, loot and steal. The rebels have moved in to the area after the army left, replacing the local authorities. They use their guns at will, aiming straight for the head of anyone who does not understand them. People can be killed in the streets at night simply because they don’t speak the language of the occupiers and don’t know how to answer. A tragic awakening with corpses in the street the next day.
Over 3,000 deaths have been reported in Goma alone. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced. There is no food, people are seen wandering in tattered clothes or half-naked in search of something to feed their families. They fled the burnt villages leaving everything behind. They are now living in IDP camps or with host families. The warehouses have been looted of even the few goods belonging to the women who used to survive thanks to the informal trade in flour, rice and vegetables. The people are exhausted, worn out by so many years of war. Many suffer from mental disorders and depression. Humanitarian aid has been cut to the bone: you need a permit to deliver aid. In the midst of so much despair, there are small signs of hope. One example is the 10 sacks of flour and rice found in the church to feed the poorest, the result of a fund-raising campaign. The Red Cross is visiting parishes to ask for blood for the wounded in hospital, almost all of them rebels.
The paradox is that the blood of the Congolese people ends up flowing into the veins of the occupiers to save their lives.
The Christian Churches’ Social Pact for Peace. In this desperate and desolate scenario, the Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (CENCO), together with the Protestant Church of Christ in the DR Congo, launched last Christmas a roadmap for peace entitled “Social Pact for Peace and Coexistence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes Region”, which was subsequently endorsed by the General Assembly in January. They are currently mobilising civil society and the authorities in the DRC and neighbouring countries. The pact provides for internal reconciliation followed by regional reconciliation. It also includes a scientific section with experts’ reflections on governance and peace, to be presented to the authorities in order to improve the country’s economy and politics and to ensure that the riches of the DRC, especially its minerals, go to the Congolese people.
Meetings with national authorities. They have already had meetings with national authorities. They met with the President of the DR Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, who recently attended peace talks in Luanda, Angola. No representatives of the M23 were present at the last meeting. “The president expressed his concern that we also need to talk to the rebels,” said Msgr. Donatien Nshole, Secretary General of the Bishops’ Conference of DR Congo, during a webinar organised by Caritas Italy, Focsiv and the Missio Foundation. “He disagrees because they are Rwandans and they receive orders from the Rwandans. Talking to the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, is enough, he believes. Unfortunately, our government is of the opinion that war is the only way out of this situation. Before, they were counting on a military victory, but the rebels have shown that they are stronger than our soldiers.
We want our initiative to be linked to the talks that have already begun in Luanda and Nairobi.
We will do everything we can to meet the facilitators of those talks. If the Congolese do not agree among themselves first, we cannot hope to reach a regional solution.”
The bishops also met with the M23 rebels. “They received us in a positive manner,” continues Monsignor Nshole, “but it was dangerous because we were there 15 days after the fall of Goma. There were weapons everywhere. They appreciated our initiative and tried to defend their reasons for taking up arms. We stressed that war is never a solution because our brothers and sisters are dying. We hope that the process started in Luanda will be successful.”
Meetings with the Presidents of Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Congo Brazzaville and Angola. “Rwanda has been proactive and has tried to talk to our President to initiate meetings with the rebels,” said the CENCO Secretary General. If next week’s talks go ahead as planned, there could be an end to the war and a space for national negotiations and peace in the region.
Europe and the UN Security Council. “We will ask Italian policymakers to convey to the international community and the Congolese government the urgent need for this national dialogue, which will make us more united and enable a dialogue with our neighbours”. The representatives of the two Christian churches will bring the voice of Congolese civil society to the UN Security Council:
“Meetings are planned with some members of the Security Council. Our first request is for a humanitarian response, the gravity of this crisis is beyond words and extremely serious. We will also ask them to support our initiative.”
Jean-Léonard Touadi, a journalist and university professor with extensive knowledge of Africa, also called for the silence surrounding the war in eastern DR Congo to be broken: “Let us remember the other conflicts besides Gaza and Ukraine, and that African conflicts also affect us, our consumption patterns and how we project ourselves to the rest of the world. In order to understand what is happening in the DRC, we must not ignore its history, its geography, its politics and its resources.” Touadi recalled the various Congolese wars: the first in ’96-’97, the second Kivu war from 2004 to 2009, the third in 2009, until today’s conflicts in Goma and Bukavu. “This is now a territory torn apart by the presence of hundreds of militias occupying a piece of territory with foreign actors and interests (including multinationals such as Apple). The strategies are both regional and international.
The peace process is complicated because these are not tribal or ethnic wars. The focus of interest is on the DR Congo’s minerals, including gold, cobalt, diamonds and coltan.”
