Text:
http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19981130_feat4.html
Source App: [Episcopal Bishops Denounce Aggression in DRC - Netscape]
Episcopal Bishops Denounce Aggression in DRC
November 30, 1998
Kinshasa (AANA) - Archbishops and bishops of the Congolese Episcopal Conference
(CENC) this month addressed a message of "hope, comfort, consolation and peace"
to their church followers. The religious leaders took the opportunity to express
their stand on the current crisis in the country. They denounced the aggression
against the Democratic Republic of Congo, which had led to the intervention of
armies from eight countries.
The clergymen also talked about the effects of the war in the DRC on the lives of its citizens. They called upon the Congolese people to make sure no other war is started and the current one is not extended. They said they were opposed to leaders imposed through the barrel of the gun "who serve foreign interests. . .and their personal interests".
However, the church leaders are also opposed to dictatorship and expressed their wish to have "leaders and institutions which respect us and make us be respected inside the country as well as outside".
The Congolese Episcopal leaders warned their followers against xenophobia, an evil they described as "a negative and dangerous attitude". They advised them to love their enemies and pray for those who persecuted them. In this context, the archbishops and bishops hailed Congolese who assisted Rwandan, Burundian and Ugandan nationals unduly persecuted.
It is worth recalling that at the beginning of the liberation war against the regime of current president Laurent-Desire Kabila, Congolese radios called upon people to kill anybody who looked like Tutsis. Many Congolese Tutsis, including rebels, were lynched in the capital Kinshasa. Foreigners who looked like Tutsis notably Senegalese and other West africans were lynched. The United States through its Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Susan Rice, and the UN, warned Kabila against genocide in the DRC.
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