Cafod reports hospital bombing as Church pleads for peace in east DRC

Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngelele of Goma appealed for “the protection of life, guarantee access to basic services for all, and prevent sexual violence.”

A Catholic maternity hospital was bombed during fighting between government forces and rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Cafod reported.

Children in the neonatal ward of the Church-run hospital in Goma were injured in the strike, Bernard Balibuno, Cafod’s country representative for DR Congo, told Premier Christian News.

“I think many of them even died, babies of two or three days and their caregivers. The neonatal side of the hospital has been completely damaged,” he said.

Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngelele of Goma condemned the attacks in a statement on 27 January.  “I am horrified to learn of the bombings, including those targeting the neonatal department of the Charité Maternelle General Hospital, resulting in the deaths of newborns,” he said, appealing for “the protection of life, guarantee access to basic services for all, and prevent sexual violence.”

Fighters from the M23 rebel group backed by the Rwandan government had that day entered Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and the largest city in the region, claiming control as civilians and Congolese troops fled.

Fighting continued yesterday, with Cafod partners reporting the sound of gunfire close to their offices. The charity said as many as 600,000 people were displaced around Goma.

“The situation in Goma is very serious,” Balibuno reported. “The humanitarian needs in Goma now are vast. The city has been forced into shutdown by the fighting and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced. Many have been reduced to begging on the streets.”

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At his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis prayed for “the swift restoration of peace and security” and urged “local authorities and the international community to make every effort to resolve the conflict through peaceful means”.

He also responded to riots in DR Congo’s capital, where protesters on stormed embassies of countries they alleged sponsored the violence in North Kivu.

“I am also following with apprehension the events unfolding in the capital, Kinshasa, and I hope that all forms of violence against people and their property will cease,” the Pope said.

As the fighting intensified last week, government representatives met Church leaders in Kinshasa to organise an ecumenical service on 9 February to pray for peace in the east of the country. Mgr Donatien Nshole, the secretary general of the Congolese bishops’ conference, met the Minister of Justice Constant Mutamba Tungunga on 21 January to discuss the initiative for interfaith prayer for the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and the population of the east of the country. 

“I told him that it is our mission as a church to pray,” Mgr Nshole said after the meeting. “We are aware of the situation in the east. The security situation, the humanitarian situation is catastrophic, even the lives of our soldiers.” 

He described conditions on a past visit to the region: “Let’s think of all the displaced people, all the families, all the people living in the forest, all the victims, the orphaned children. So they need peace, they need prayer. This would be an opportunity to intensify the prayers we are already making for peace.”

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