Congolese Religious Leaders'
Position on the War

We, the religious leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo--including representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Christ in Congo (a union of 62 Protestant denominations), the Kimbanguist Church (the largest independent church in the country), the Orthodox Church, and the Islamic Community--are deeply saddened by the war that has been going on in our country since August 2, 1998. This war has had devastating consequences for the Congolese people, for the future of our nation, and for our relationships with our neighbors and friends.

The Congolese people have suffered from abuses of their human rights, from massive killings, and from the displacement of thousands of Congolese within their country and the exodus of thousands more to foreign countries. These displaced persons and refugees are suffering from famine, lack of medicine, lack of clothing, and lack of moral and spiritual support.

The future of the nation is jeopardized by the risk of Balkanization--the danger of division of the country into three parts, to be coordinated and controlled by neighboring countries that have invaded the Congo. These invaders have the endorsement of some of our own children who have chosen armed opposition.

Our relationships with our neighbors and friends have deteriorated since some of our neighbors--Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda--have decided to invade our country, to occupy part of it, to massacre our children, and to loot our resources. The relationship between the Congo and its traditional Western friends has also deteriorated. Western supporters have almost abandoned the Congolese people during this very difficult period. They have been misled by the false information and propaganda on the Congo and its leadership that has been spread by certain dominant media. This propaganda has deterred the international community from taking a firm stand against the aggressors. It has discouraged the United Nations and its supporters from committing resources and passing resolutions to bring an end to this war.

With the technical assistance of the All Africa Conference of Churches, we decided to get actively involved--not because we want to support any of the parties to the conflict but to play our pastoral role in support of justice, peace, reconciliation, unity, democracy, and our people.

1. We Stand for Justice

We, the Congolese religious leaders, know that without justice there cannot be peace and stability. The fact that the international community has denied justice in the case of the Congolese war has worsened our situation. Our God is a God of justice. We know that all the international conventions and treaties and charters have justice as their foundation. We are therefore asking the international community to implement and respect the international conventions and charters that secure justice to each nation and people of the world. This justice includes respect for the human rights of all people, respect for each nation's territorial integrity,

the protection of both the minority and the majority, and the protection of women's and children's rights.

While we recognize that even invading countries have the right to peace, justice, and security, we, the religious leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ask the international community to put pressure on the invading countries so that they will withdraw their forces and put an end to the occupation of one part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This move would not be a favor done for our people but a matter of justice--the restoration of a right that is internationally recognized.

We, the religious leaders, stand for justice. We ask the support of all the religious groups in the world and of all people of good will to help and to work for the restoration of justice for the Congolese people.

2. We Stand for Peace

We believe that religious leaders have a divine call to bring peace and harmony to all of God's creation. Therefore we support all initiatives capable of bringing peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes region of Africa. These initiatives include the Lusaka Peace Agreement, which appears, up to now, to be the only way to achieve the cessation of hostilities.

We believe that without peace there cannot be development and democracy. We stand for peace to help our people regain hope and start the difficult task of national reconstruction. We believe that individual, internal peace has a great impact on collective and national peace. Therefore, in our action, we will take seriously the concern of all children of Congo, with no discrimination on the basis of race, tribe, clan, or political identity. We stand for peace for all--including those who have invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo. We therefore are asking and encouraging their religious leaders to work toward a genuine reconciliation process. This process will have to start within their countries in order for the barriers to peace to be definitively removed and for lasting peace to come to all the beautiful nations God has given us in this Great Lakes region of Africa. We are involved because we stand for peace for all God's children.

3. We Stand for Unity

We want to live in God's love, which is visibly manifested in unity. We therefore refuse any tendency to divide our people and our nation.

4. We Stand for Reconciliation

It is a permanent pastoral duty and a divine mandate to help God's children to accept one another, to live together in harmony, and to engage in dialogue. It is with this duty at heart that we, the religious leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are organizing a National Consultation. The purpose of this National Consultation is to prepare for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue that we pray and hope will definitely resolve the Congolese crisis. The National Consultation is a prerequisite to the success of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue. We are convinced that people who cannot talk and share ideas will not be able to negotiate in good faith. We want to prepare our people to go to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue not to fight but to resolve the crisis of this nation and to be reconciled. It is our divine duty to prepare the mind and souls of all the Congolese so that the opportunity of bringing peace--as provided for by the Lusaka Agreement through the Inter-Congolese Dialogue--might not be missed. We are committed to this project because we stand for reconciliation of all the Congolese people, whatever their political orientation and source of military support.

We are calling this National Consultation because we believe that, after a session of exchange and conversation, many obstacles to the dialogue will be removed and the Inter-Congolese Dialogue--which is the hope for peace in the country and security in the region--will be a success. We are acting because we stand for reconciliation.

5. We Stand for Democracy

We, the religious leaders, are convinced that access to power must be achieved through democratic means, after free and fair elections and without any resort to violence and war as a means of sharing and seizing power without the mandate of the people. We, the religious leaders, call upon the international community and the Congolese people to legitimize the governing power by supporting and organizing democratic elections as soon as possible. This would end the vicious cycle of transitional governments that have succeeded one another for the last 10 years, leading the people into misery and wars. Since April 1990, the Democratic Republic of Congo--then known as Zaire--has had 10 governments of transition, namely:

1. The Government of Lunda Bululu

2. The Government of Muluba Lukoji

3. The Government of Etienne Tshisekedi I

4. The Government of Mungulu Diaka

5. The Government of Nguz-a-Kar-I-Bond

6. The Government of Tshisekedi II

7. The Government of Birindwa

8. The Government of Kengo wa Ndondo (Kengo 1 and Kengo 2)

9. The Government of Tshisekedi III

10. The Government of Likulia

It is sad to remind the Congolese and the international community that none of these governments has led the people to a democratic process. On the contrary, each of them took our people into a terrible crisis. We are not prepared to let our people continue to live in a vicious cycle of transitional governments. We are calling for the people's mandate because we stand for democracy.

6. We Stand for Our People

We, the religious leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have witnessed the suffering of our people for many years. Children are not going to school regularly. A large number of Congolese are living either in exile or in refugee camps under inhuman conditions. Others are hiding in deep forests without medicine, clothing, and food. We, the religious leaders, cannot remain inactive and watch our people and our country die. We cannot continue to watch while these, God's sacred gifts, are being destroyed by political and economic ambitions and selfishness. It will be a failure on our side to wait until an external solution is found while the plight of our people continues. We are acting because we stand for our people who are God's children. We stand for a people who are naturally welcoming and peaceful. We stand for a people who do not have a culture of violence and killings. We stand for our people because we know that they are able to forgive, forget, and start afresh as sisters and brothers with those who have inflicted this horrible suffering on them. We stand for our people because the Congolese people have love and joy as their God-given gifts. We stand for our people because we believe that there cannot be a harmonious future without forgiveness. We cannot let the dearest gift of forgiveness in our people die. The purpose of an initiative to organize and call a National Consultation is to strengthen the unity of our people and all the peoples of the Great Lakes region. We believe that love and trust will be restored during the National Consultation. We believe that our people will prepare the way for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue during the National Consultation.

We thank the leadership of the All Africa Conference of Churches and all its partners for standing with us and expressing their solidarity with the Congolese people by supporting this initiative. We call upon all the partners of the All Africa Conference of Churches, the Roman Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Orthodox Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Islamic Community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to walk with us and help us because we believe that God is going to use all of us for the restoration of peace, justice, and the integrity of the Congolese people. We call upon the international community to encourage the Congolese people to join in this preparatory event to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue. We thank you.

SIGNATURES

For the Catholic Church, His Eminence Frédéric Cardinal Etsou Nzabi Bamungwabi;

For the Church of Christ in Congo, Mgr Pierre Marini Bodho;

For the Kimbanguist Church, Pasteur Grégoire Mbuy-Kana;

For the Orthodox Church, Archevêque Mgr.Timothéos K. Kontomerkos;

For the Islamic Community, El Hadji Mudilo-wa-Malemba S.

Presented to GBGM Staff on January 25, 2000

See also: Congo Religious Leaders Work for Peace