DRC: Catholic faithful march to denounce M23 rebels
Catholic faithful from the Democratic Republic of Congo and their priests demonstrated on Sunday in several cities to denounce the M23 rebels and the international community accused of inaction and hypocrisy in the face of the rebels’ offensives in eastern Congo.
In the capital Kinshasa, several processions set off after the first mass at 6.30am. All other religious services on Sunday were cancelled.
The faithful, carrying rosaries, crosses, crucifixes and Bibles, flocked to the parliament building, singing religious hymns interspersed with slogans of support for the army. Others sent hostile messages to Rwanda, which was accused of supporting the M23. Some officials such as the President of the Senate and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Interior took part in the march which took place under heavy police surveillance.
Opposition leader Martin Fayulu led a procession of thousands of protesters in the east of the capital. In front of the parliament building, messages contained in a memorandum were read out by a priest from the archdiocese. The Church is asking the government to suspend the DRC’s participation in the Francophonie and to leave the Community of East African States.
The Catholics also want the United Nations mission (Monusco) to leave the country because “the responsibility of the international community in the crisis is engaged,” said the priest reading a message signed by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa.
“The UN, Monusco, the European Union and others are not playing fair,” said the message in which the Church also opposes the “pooling of armed forces.
This memorandum should be deposited on Monday in embassies and political institutions.
The march was initiated at the call of the Congolese episcopate in a context marked by the offensives of the M23, which has seized several localities in the territories of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo in North Kivu province.
Nearly 300,000 people have fled their localities because of the fighting, according to the United Nations.
The M23 is a former rebellion that was defeated in 2013 by the Congolese army and peacekeepers, but took up arms again late last year, accusing the government of not respecting peace agreements.
Miss OLY
