Outrage at military failure to stop parish massacre in DR Congo

‘May the blood of these martyrs become a seed of peace, reconciliation, fraternity and love for the Congolese people,’ said Pope Leo after the killings in Ituri Province.

Jihadists killed at least 43 people, including nine children, in an attack on a Catholic parish in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Allied Democratic Forces, a terrorist organisation linked to the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta parish in Komanda, in the north-eastern Ituri Province, early on the morning of 27 July.

It also left 15 others injured and forced more than 400 others to flee to nearby towns, while an unknown number were kidnapped.  Many of those killed had been attending an overnight prayer vigil, which the Comboni missionary Fr Marcelo Oliveira told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) was part of the Eucharistic Crusade movement.

Pope Leo XIV expressed “deep grief” at the killings in a telegram from the Vatican. “May the blood of these martyrs become a seed of peace, reconciliation, fraternity, and love for the Congolese people,” he said.

Bishop Dieudonné Uringi of Bunia, in eastern DR Congo, condemned the authorities for their slow response to the attack.

“The police and the military were not far away, but they did not act in time. They should have intervened more quickly to protect the population,” he told ACN. “Many people have been traumatised. When the adults found out, they came immediately to see what had happened.”

Bishop Uringi said there were no “confessional tensions” between Muslims and Christians in the region but said unrest was driven by a long-running insurgency by Ugandan rebels.  

The Congolese bishops conference said the massacre “outrages us even more because it took place in one of the provinces where a state of siege has long been in effect” with a large military deployment by DR Congo, Uganda and the United Nations. It said it was “paradoxical that massacres and kidnappings continue to occur precisely in these provinces”.

Observers said the attack was not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of violence that continues to destabilise the region despite peace efforts. In February, dozens of Christians were killed in a jihadist attack on a church in North Kivu province.

“Humanitarian agencies are scrambling to provide aid for displaced families facing food and shelter shortages, and other nearby churches have opened their doors to those seeking refuge,” said Cafod’s Africa director Verity Johnson.

“Without a sustained and coordinated effort to address the root causes of the violence – including ethnic tensions, competition over resources, and weak governance – civilians will continue to bear the brunt of this crisis.”

While international powers focus on diplomatic agreements and strategic interests, a Catholic leader from Goma said the conflict was driven by economic factors.

“While this conflict has political and security dimensions, it is fundamentally economic in nature,” said Gilbert Dhego, the director of the Diocese of Goma’s Justice and Peace Commission. “It stems from the desire of external actors to control the DRC’s strategic mineral resources.”

Dhego argued that sustainable peace could only be achieved through a more just and equitable sharing of the country’s mineral wealth, proposing that “a fair distribution of the dividends from resource exploitation, achieved through transparent and inclusive mechanisms, could significantly reduce frustrations” and lay the foundation for lasting stability in the region.

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