Christian leaders within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have pledged to work towards peace and harmony between neighbours, following an intensification of violence within the east of the country.
Rebel group M23 has claimed control of the eastern city of Goma, although government forces say that they still control the town’s airport. The increase in violence has left many concerned in regards to the fate of refugees.
DRC’s eastern neighbour, Rwanda, has been accused of supporting M23 within the hope of annexing a few of its mineral wealthy territory. Rwanda in turn has accused DRC of supporting anti-government militias in its territory and of harbouring those answerable for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
It is believed that there are around seven million internally displaced people within the DRC, greater than some other country on this planet. Christian charity World Vision has called on the international community to do more to assist child refugees within the country. Since 1998, it’s believed that over six million people have been killed within the conflict.
Now, wanting to unravel the causes relatively than simply the symptoms of the conflict, the Church of Christ in Congo has proposed a roadmap foo peace between the assorted factions. The Church of Christ is an umbrella organisation that represents greater than 60 Protestant denominations within the country, in addition to the Roman Catholic Church.
Rev Eric Nsenga, General Secretary of the Church of Christ in Congo, and Fr Donatien Nshole, General Secretary of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo issued a joint statement calling for peace: “In this 12 months of Jubilee … our prophetic mission makes it our duty to exhort people, communities, and the state of our sub-region to meet the duty of human beings towards themselves, that of peaceful co-existence and supportive co-existence.
“Every day that passes is one too many! And day after day, time is running out and the dark prospects of a humanitarian catastrophe with incalculable consequences have gotten clearer.”
The church plan involves rallying together congregations, politicians and native communities in support of the concept of peaceful coexistence between the various groups and ethnicities of the region.
The proposal also suggests a return to what it describes as traditional African methods of conflict resolution, namely a civilised discussion under the palaver tree, in addition to efforts at peaceful consensus constructing.
“Where have our sociological and spiritual values of Bumuntu gone, which were the ontological foundation of our Africa identity? Why are we not in a position to resolve our problems under the palaver tree as our ancestors knew how you can accomplish that, properly?”
Churches in DRC may also be holding workshops that may search for recommendations that may eventually morph into what the World Council of Churches has called “a national charter for peace and living together”.
Today the Kenyan government confirmed that the leaders of each DRC and Rwanda will likely be attending an emergency conference in the following two days with the hope of bringing the conflict to an end.
