Goma ‘cries to the world’ as humanitarian disaster looms

‘We have not seen a response that can support 600,000 people,’ said Cafod’s Bernard Balibuno, referring to the number of displaced people around the city.

Cafod warned that food shortages and disease threatened a humanitarian catastrophe in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with aid obstructed by fighting between government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels.

“The danger of famine is imminent,” said Bernard Balibuno, Cafod’s country representative in DR Congo, based in the capital Kinshasa. “We are crying to the world for support. We may lose many people.”

He told The Tablet that Church agencies were still able to operate in Goma, the region’s largest city and the capital of North Kivu state which the rebel M23 Movement captured last month, but had “very, very limited funds”.

“We have not seen a response that can support 600,000 people,” he said, referring to the number of displaced people around the city. He said the available aid was “really just a bucket of water in the lake”.

The M23 coalition declared a ceasefire for “humanitarian reasons” on 3 February, which Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngengele of Goma said last week was “holding, but people are still afraid to venture outside because they do not feel completely safe”.

“The worst situation is in the hospitals, which are receiving a large number of wounded and are in difficulty due to the lack of medicines and equipment,” he said.

Balibuno said that families who had hosted others displaced by previous months of fighting in the region had now themselves been displaced, while rebel troops had dismantled displacement camps around the city. He said Cafod had previously operated a number of programmes to support the population, but “for now we are concentrating on saving lives”.

Katy Nembe Katonda, Cafod’s deputy country representative based in Goma, told The Tablet there was “minimum functionality” in the city, with provision of water and electricity and the reopening of the market, but other infrastructure was “thoroughly paralysed”. She said the closure of Goma’s airport, the main access point to the whole region, had a “massive impact”.

Nembe reported dangers of water-borne diseases in densely-populated areas, where “even those who were already displaced have been displaced once again”, adding that there would be a “psycho-social impact” from the crisis. “The mental health of many people here is going to be shown on the streets,” she said.

Balibuno also warned of increased crime following the destruction of Goma’s prison when the city fell on 27 January, and of widespread sexual violence.

Bishop of Goma ‘disgusted’ by rebel violence in eastern DR Congo

Hands off Africa!

The UN said last week that despite the ceasefire rebel troops had continued to advance into neighbouring South Kivu towards the state capital Bukavu. It estimated 3,000 people had died in the recent weeks of fighting.

African leaders from the Southern African Development Community and East African Community, including the DR Congo’s President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, held an emergency summit in Tanzania last weekend aiming to end the violence. It urged parties to resume negotiations and to reopen Goma’s airport.

“We don’t know what they are looking for,” Balibuno told The Tablet. “Everyone understands this is a mineral war, a business war,” he said, referring to the resources in the Lake Kivu region which Rwanda has been accused of stealing. Balibuno said there was “no willingness” for peace while “anger is growing in all directions”.

He added that the failure to resolve the crisis in the region over many years had “blocked the development of the whole country, of the whole of Africa”.

The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) issued a statement on 8 February mourning “the numerous losses of life, as well as the looting and destruction of property that have caused widespread suffering”.

“As Christians, we cannot remain indifferent to this tragic situation experienced by thousands of people, including women and children, who are forced to move without any glimmer of hope on the horizon for the moment concerning the cessation of hostilities,” it said, appealing for international support for humanitarian aid and negotiations.

“During this time of turmoil, we urge all parties involved to seek dialogue over division, understanding over enmity, and solidarity over strife. We believe that a pathway to lasting peace can be forged through sincere and open dialogue. It is crucial that the dignity and rights of every individual are respected as we collectively seek a future defined by justice and compassion.”

The Archbishop of Kinshasa Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu accused the international community of “doublespeak” in promoting peace because of interest in exploiting the region’s mineral resources. Speaking before a Mass on Sunday, he said the Church supported “a solution through dialogue” between the combatants.

“If we must go to Goma, we will go there,” he said. “We will speak with the whole world. Even if somebody lives on the moon, we will go to the moon.” In his homily, Cardinal Ambongo called dialogue “a sacred word”.

Bishops across Africa also appealed for governments to resolve the conflict. The Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISSA) said the “alarming scenario” around Goma was “very serious and delicate”.

A statement last week said IMBISSA was “calling for the intervention of the international community and internal and regional forces, urging all parties to the conflict to commit to the cessation of hostilities and the protection of the civilian population”.

The Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC), comprising the bishops’ conferences of DR Congo, Burundi and Rwanda, said they grieved for the dead “with a bleeding heart”.

“We condemn the abject violence that continues to afflict our sub-region, plunging the city of Goma once again into distress and despair,” said the ACEAC president Bishop José Moko Ekanga of Idiofa on 2 February.

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

Congolese cardinal demands end to ‘plundering’ of resources

Stay updated — add us as a preferred news source on Google: