Pope Francis calls on world leaders to help end slaughter of civilians in the DRC

Olanyia Mohammed, 38, who managed to escape the massacre in his village by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in 2004 but lost 15 members of his family, points at his parents’ names etched on the memorial for the victims of the massacre in Lukodi, Uganda, 3 February 2021. The Joseph Kony-led extremist group has wantonly killed people in eastern DRC in 2024. (Sumy Sadurni/AFP)

• Pope Francis says Christians are being persecuted in the DRC.
• A DRC has legislator has claimed that 215 civilians were killed in Ituri province at the beginning of June.
• The killings have been linked to the Lord’s Resistance Army, an extremist group founded by wanted Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony.

The Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has sent an SOS to world leaders,
asking them to do everything in their power to end violence and preserve the
lives of civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter),
the Pope said: “Among the victims, many are Christians killed in odium
fidei [in hatred of the faith]. They are martyrs. 

“Their sacrifice is a seed that germinates and bears fruit, and it
teaches us to bear witness to the gospel with courage and consistency.”

The Pope also called for continued prayers for Sudan,
Ukraine, Myanmar and “the Holy Land”, meaning Israel.

Official statistics show Catholics in the DRC make up 49% of the
population.

Last year, on his tour of Africa, the Pope made a two-day stop in
Kinshasa and held a mass.

During the mass, he raised concerns about the security situation in the
DRC and the resource curse.

Pope Francis (L), seated in a wheelchair, waves to attendees as he arrives for a meeting with Bishops at the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on 3 February 2023. (Tiziana Fabi / AFP)

AFP

Last month, the Pope again spoke about the killings in the DRC, which he
called “a testimony of martyrdom that a group of Catholics from Congo,
from North Kivu, have given in recent days”.

Since the beginning of May, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), an
extremist group founded by wanted Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony, has been killing people wantonly
in eastern DRC.

The US issued a R95 million bounty for information leading to the arrest
of Kony.

Gratien de Saint-Nicolas, the MP for Bunia-ville in Ituri province,
claimed in a statement that 215 civilians were killed in the first weeks
of June.

He also called on the UN Mission in the DRC to help push militias back.

Children look at FARDC (Armed Forces of the DRC) soldiers riding in a vehicle in a military position in Mirangi, close to the frontline and the town of Kibirizi, controlled by the M23 rebellion, North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on 14 May 2024. (Alexis Huguet/AFP)

AFP

“About 215 innocent civilians were killed from 3 to 12 June. We
call for solidarity nationally and internationally in the face of abandoned
people in the East.

“I call on the president of the Republic to fully assume his
responsibilities under our Constitution for the protection of Congolese
[people] and the safeguarding of national sovereignty.

He said:

The security situation in the DRC has deteriorated since the beginning
of President Felix Tshisekedi’s second term.

Last year, it was estimated that at least 150 militia groups known as
“Mai-Mai” were operating in the country.

The biggest headache for the government is the M23 rebel group in North
Kivu, where a Southern African Development Community force led by South Africa
arrived in December last year to help flush it out.

But the biggest security fear as yet was the foiled 19 May putsch that
led to the arrest of 50 people, three of them American citizens.

At least five people, including coup leader Christian Malanga, were
killed.

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