Caritas groups mobilise amid ‘human calamity’ in DR Congo

Reports suggested the violence in the east of the country was driving civil disorder and gang crime elsewhere in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Caritas organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo expanded their operations in response to the crisis in the east of the country which has displaced more than 230,000 people since the start of the year.

Local churches in the Great Lakes region, which were already helping to support the seven million people across the region displaced by years of violence between government forces and militias, have provided support to women and children in particular.

“The Church is there to preach, but it also has the responsibility to save lives,” said Elie Mbulegheti, the communications director for Caritas Butembo-Beni, headquartered in Butembo in North Kivu state. The fall of the state capital Goma to the Rwandan-backed rebels of the M23 Movement in January began the latest escalation of violence, threatening to become a regional war.

“We mobilise people of goodwill around the world, so that they help us to help people who suffer from this human calamity,” Mbulegheti told The Tablet.

Church officials have begun using mobile health clinics for the displaced, according to reports in the French Catholic weekly Le Pèlerin. It cited the case of 21-year old Sifa who gave birth in one of the clinics, naming her son La Guerre – “War” – “because that’s all I’ve ever known”.

Mbulegheti said that last year, Caritas had already provided large-scale support to vulnerable people in the area, supplying them with legumes, oil and salt, enough to last them up to 60 days with support from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

In the same year, Caritas Internationalis mobilised support, “enabling us to assist 8,000 households with food and essential household items. With Caritas Norway, we supported 2,500 households in agricultural initiatives and development,” Mbulegheti said.

Reports suggested the violence in the east of the country was driving civil disorder and gang crime elsewhere in DR Congo. The Archbishop of Kinshasa Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besugu said religious communities should increase their security measures after armed men attacked the residence of the Missionary Sisters of Santo Domingo in the capital on 18 March

The gang, wielding machetes, broke through a wall of the house in Kimbanseke, a municipality within Kinshasa. They threatened the sisters and stole money, computers and other valuables.

In a statement on 24 March, Cardinal Ambongo decried the attack and extended his solidarity to the sisters. He said religious groups should take measures to protect against such attacks while resisting fear and intimidation.

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