CONGO-DEM.REPUBLIC 8/6/2004 15:45 BUKAVU CRISIS: APPEAL BY MISSIONARY JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMISSION TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY Church/Religious Affairs, Standard âThe events in Bukavu are demonstration of the violent occupation still underway throughout the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The international community helped the country to reach a peace treaty, but the necessary steps were not taken to ensure that the military and administrative structures of the ex rebel forces were dismantled from the outsetâ: in this way the Justice and Peace Commission of the Italian Missionary Institutes draws the attention of the international community to the âdramaâ underway in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which deteriorated at the end of May when regular army troops clashed with a group of renegade soldiers linked to RCD-Goma (Congolese Rally for Democracy, the former rebel movement which had almost total control of this part of the country during the war before entering the transitional government in 2003) in Bukavu, capital of South Kivu, on the border with Rwanda. âThe government of Kinshasa has not managed to impose its authority in the east of the country either from a military or from an administrative point of view, as demonstrated by recent events,â continues the commission in a document received by MISNA today. âDespite complaints by civil society, the government has done nothing to neutralise people such as Nkunda, Mutebusi, Georges Mirindi, Dorkis, Bora, Kasongoâ some of whom are responsible for large-scale massacres and have refused to sign up to the peace process, to the extent that they have managed to equip themselves with men, weapons and ammunition, occupy Bukavu and threaten the entire region,â write the missionaries. In its statement, the same commission also highlights the role of MONUC (UN Mission in DR-Congo), which âhas shown inertia, inability and incompetenceâ. âFor reasons which we find hard to understand, despite the denouncements that have been made and though it knew where the leaders, the dissident soldiers, the arms and ammunition were located, MONUC failed to take preventive action and it allowed things to unfold. We cannot understand why it does not deploy its men along the border; why it does not conduct a census of all the armed men without waiting for them to surrender spontaneously.â According to the missionaries, âto declare the truth of eventsâ MONUC also âneeds the international community to be decisiveâ. âWe are therefore wondering how it is that the international community is not able to go beyond the false political statements; that it can believe in a possible genocide of the Banyamulenge instead of reading in the alarm the pretext for justifying the occupation of the region and the presence of Rwandan forces in Congoâ. In the absence of serious commitment by the international community, the situation in the east of Congo risks âbecoming gangrenousâ and of leading to âa division of the country, which will lead to further oppression and repressionâ. âWe are calling on all international politicians and information professionals to trust those who are experiencing this drama and who are perhaps the only ones able to give a correct account of what is happening, rather than making do with official statements or with their own reading of events. The local people have denounced everything that has happened dozens of times. We call on the States, the European Union and the international bodies to put an end to all blind protection of the Rwandan regime; to make their financial aid conditional upon an effective process of dialogue in the country and on the ascertained end of all military, political or economic aggression towards Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda has the backing of strong political powers and even stronger economic powers. Availing themselves of the reports drawn up by the groups of UN experts on the illegal exploitation of resources in Congo, we are asking the competent states and bodies to look into the contracts and presence of the large companies that profit from the wealth in the east of the country,â stress the missionaries, inviting the UN to change the terms of its presence in the country. âAs church animators, renewed courage is required of us in our work alongside the population. We are witnesses and in some respects participants in its huge suffering throughout this time. We cannot keep silent. The Congolese people have a right to peace and to respect for their dignity. All the populations in the Great lakes area have the right to peace in justice. It is only within a framework of justice and reciprocal respect that the countries in the region will be able to resume that exchange that will allow all to live with dignityâ concludes the statement released by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Italian Missionary Institutes. [LC]
