Bishops of Congo appeal for help from international community to achieve peace

Rome, Italy, Nov 17, 2008 / 13:31 pm

The Bishops’ Conference of Congo issued a dramatic and urgent message calling for an end to the violence in the country and urging the international community to intervene to stop the “silent genocide” that is afflicting the nation, especially in the northern region of Kivu.

According to the L’Osservatore Romano, the bishops said that “despite our call to go to leaders and the international community, the situation in this part of the country (Kivu in the north) has only gotten worse.  It is reaching unbearable, very troubling proportions, capable of destabilizing the entire sub-region if it is not stopped,” they stated.

“We strongly condemn this ignoble manner of considering war as a means for resolving problems and achieving power,” the bishops went on. “We denounce all crimes committed against innocent citizens and we absolutely disapprove of all aggression in the country. We are warning about the laxity with which the international community treats the problem of aggression of which our country is a victim,” they said.

Likewise they call for “an immediate cessation of the hostilities, the guarantee of conditions of security for the return of those displaced from their land and an increase in humanitarian aid.”

The bishops also recalled the constant concern of Pope Benedict XVI for the crisis affecting the country and his “repeated calls for a peaceful solution and for financial aid, which he himself has given, to alleviate those affected.”