After refusing to meet with Congolese rebels since the war started in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC president, Laurent Kabila, recently reversed course and has now agreed to meet with rebels fighting to oust him. Kabila is now asking the Catholic church in Rome to broker a peace deal between his government and the rebels.

Other mediation efforts to end the war are led by Zambia President Frederick Chiluba, who has been trying to get both sides to talk since the war began in August 1998. Under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity, Chiluba has put forth a peace initiative which calls for an immediate ceasefire, the removal of foreign troops from DRC territory, and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC. In addition, the plan also makes provisions for security guarantees for both Rwanda and Uganda.

The crisis in the DRC began when Rwanda and Uganda invaded the eastern part of the DRC in support of DRC rebels. Both countries claim that their military involvement was done out of security concerns, since rebels trying to destabilize both the Rwandan and Ugandan governments operate out of bases in the eastern DRC.

Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi have been fighting alongside the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD), a rebel group trying to overthrow Kabila. On the government side, armies from Zimbabwe, Angola, Chad, and Namibia have been assisting the DRC armed forces (FAC) to repel the Rwandan and Ugandan troops from its territory.

According to many in the DRC, the conflict has halted any efforts by the civil society and the government to rebuild the country after the end of a 32- year- old dictatorship. The country has been partitioned. The rebels along with their Ugandan and Rwandan backers hold most of the east, while the rest of the country is held by the government and its allies. The crisis has created a humanitarian disaster, which if not resolved soon could spill into neighboring countries like Tanzania and Zambia where an estimated 500,000 from the DRC have taken refuge.

Impacts of the conflict have been felt on all aspects of the DRC. There are food and gasoline shortages across the country. Malnutrition and other curable diseases have already caused numerous deaths. Tragically, a large number of children are no longer able to attend school and have become "child soldiers." Even evangelism has been affected. Outreach ministries to indigenous people like the pygmies who live in the northeastern DRC have been interrupted by the fighting, says Richard Byamungu, a Pentecostal evangelist based in Goma.

Since the beginning of the war, there has been a rise of violence caused by ethnic hatred in the entire Great Lakes Region of Africa (Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda). New armed groups are springing up almost everywhere. On his return from his recent visit to the DRC, Roberto Garreton, UN special rapporteur, reports than there are more than twenty armed groups operating in eastern DRC. In Uganda, a group of armed gangs, allegedly Interahamwe guerrillas from Rwanda, recently killed eight tourists, including two Americans.

The war has displaced many from their homes, especially in territories occupied by Rwandan troops. In addition, DRC villagers have been massacred by both the Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers. At a recent gathering of UMC members in Washington, D.C., Dr. Mumba Djamba, a board member of the General Board of Church and Society stated, "the war has. . .caused the massacre of many Congolese, as well as the systematic looting of many churches, residential houses, motor vehicles, factory equipment and. . . natural resources." According to MISNA, the Catholic News Agency, more than 800 people from Kasika, South Kivu, including priests and nuns, were massacred in August 1998. The same agency also reports that an additional 500 people were massacred by both the Rwandan and the RCD forces in Makobola, South Kivu, around New Year's Eve. Echoing MISNA's reports and Djamba's statement, the Reverend Membele Lukaso from the Central Conference of the United Methodist Church in the DRC alleges that victims of the Rwandan aggression have been mostly women, children, and other civilians.

MISNA and other news organizations reported that the most recent massacres perpetrated by Rwandan troops were committed in mid-March in South Kivu. Both Rwanda and the DRC rebels deny the allegation.

Those displaced by the war include several United Methodist families from both the Kivu and the Katanga provinces. Many have been lost in the deep jungle, and those who are financially capable have joined their relatives in different parts of the country. Others are now living in refugee camps in Kigoma, Tanzania.

Since the United States has failed to condemn the Rwandan and Ugandan offensive, some from the DRC, including UMC members, have accused the Clinton administration of supporting the invasion of their country. To show their sense of patriotism, young DRC UMC members voluntarily enlisted into the armed forces to fight off the invasion, according to sources within the UMC in the DRC.

March 29, 1999