In spite of recent progress towards peace between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, tensions are still high. As a result, 76 priests of the Diocese of Bunia issued a statement on 20 August stressing that the “ongoing violence is endangering our province.”
According to our source , Bunia is the capital of Ituri in the eastern part of the DRC, which has been ravaged with violence by the various armed groups and been under siege since May 2021.
Violent acts and murders against civilians continue throughout the area, impacting the Catholic communities. One of the more recent incidents took place on the night of 19 and 20 August when armed men entered the “Propédéutique Saint Kizito” oratory. They opened the tabernacle, threw the hosts on the ground, broke windows, and threatened the priests.
According to the priest’s statement, this attack is one of the many that continue to occur “despite the strong presence of law enforcement officers in the neighborhood”.
Other incidents include one on a parish in Lope on 21 July and on another parish in Komanda on the night of 26 July, where almost 50 people were killed and at least 40 young people were kidnapped.
In their statement, the priests of the diocese highlighted that the crisis continues to spread to other parts of the country, and as a result, many people are fleeing their homes in search of safety.
They raised concerns about the effectiveness of the security forces, which the statement argued, is “often justified by minimizing and trivializing the situation with terms like provocation and retaliation to conceal their incompetence and complicity, and to portray local youth as the cause of insecurity.”
According to the diocesan priests, what’s worse is the law enforcement agencies – together with the militia – are responsible for murders, illegal roadblocks, random arrests (even of minors), and property looting of innocent people.
The statement continued as the clergy of Bunia denounced “slander and verbal threats” against the Church by the military authorities in charge in Ituri. Authorities claim the Church is ‘harboring’ individuals affiliated with the Convention pour la Révolution Populaire (CRP) militia.
The priests refute these claims, saying: “It is evident that the Catholic Church, because of its prophetic mission, has become, among many others, the target of orchestrated attacks by the military, which has declared a state of emergency and is acting in criminal complicity with CODECO.”
The militias also carried out an attack on a parish in Lopa together with soldiers from the regular armed forces. These priests reported that the siege has “visibly and seriously failed to impose peace, which was its primary and essential task. On the contrary, the armed groups have not only multiplied but also increased in numbers and weapons.”