The Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DR
Congo), formerly known as Zaire, is
rich in deposits of gold, diamonds, copper, and cobalt. Yet, the DR Congo is on
the brink of starvation. The evident collapse of national order, the legal
system, the economy, the infrastructure, and health and educational systems has
been exacerbated by four years of civil war. Since 1998, eight African
countries and at least seven other armed groups have contributed to the
conflict. International observers have characterized the war in Congo as “a
continent-wide free-for-all.” Congolese rebels and their allies from Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi control
nearly half the country. A study by the International Rescue Committee has
estimated that approximately 2.5 million Congolese have died from war- related
causes. About 85 percent of these deaths were from disease and malnutrition,
direct results of the war’s destruction of agricultural, economic, health, and
infrastructure systems.
A History of Exploitation
There is little in Congo’s
history to serve as a model for peaceful self-rule. Before the most recent war,
the country suffered three decades of economic and political mismanagement and
severe repression under Zaire’s long-time dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. Yet,
before independence in1960, under the rule of the Belgian Congo,
10 million indigenous people are estimated to have died from forced slave
labor, starvation, and outright extermination under colonial rule.
In the 1870s, King Leopold II of Belgium signed
treaties with Congolese chiefs that made him the personal owner of the region.
He began a ruthless program of exploitation, using slave labor to produce
ivory, rubber, and copper from the resources of the Katanga
province. Conditions hardly improved when the Congo became
a colony of the Belgian government in 1908.
The Congo was
granted independence in 1960, but almost immediately the army rebelled, the
copper-rich province of Katanga
seceded, and internal power struggles between the president, Joseph Kasavubu,
and the premier, Patrice Lumumba, ensued. Kasavubu, aided by army
chief-of-staff Joseph Mobutu, had Lumumba arrested and taken to Katanga, where
Belgian mercenaries killed him. In 1965, Mobutu seized the presidency, and for
the next 35 years, the country suffered under his corrupt and harsh regime.
Mobutu changed his name to Mobutu Sese Seko, the country’s name to Zaire, and
declared that all Zaireans must take African names. The United
States backed Mobutu for close to 25
years, but in 1990 cut off military and financial aid.
In 1994, more than a million Hutu refugees spilled over the border
from Rwanda, where
terrible ethnic strife between the Hutus and the Tutsis led to the mass murder
of many of the Rwandans. A veteran Zairean rebel fighter, Laurent Kabila, reentered
Zaire with
Rwandan rebels in 1994 and built up a coalition force among them and Zairean
rebels. In 1997, while Mobutu went to France for
cancer treatment, Kabila took over the country and proclaimed himself
president. He changed the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
The collective sigh of relief did not last long, as Kabila’s
regime turned out to be another autocratic model. A study by a French
humanitarian agency, Doctor’s Without Borders, revealed a series of massacres
committed by Kabila and his Rwandan forces on his way to power.
In 1999, the DR Congo and five other states involved in the civil
conflicts signed a cease-fire agreement in Lusaka. It
called for a UN peacekeeping force, disarmament of the rebel militias, and the
departure of foreign African troops. But Kabila did little to enforce the terms
of this treaty, and rebel groups, who had no part in the discussion, refused to
cooperate.
In January 2001, Laurent Kabila was assassinated, apparently by a
member of his own guard. His son, 30-year-old Joseph Kabila, took over as
president. With the younger Kabila a ray of hope shines out from the violent
history of this central African country. Joseph Kabila spent much of his life
outside Zaire because
of his father’s political circumstances. One of the first things Joseph Kabila
did as the country’s leader was
sign on
to the cease-fire agreement.
UN military observers and peacekeeping troops have been deployed
to more than 20 locations. Some factions have been disarmed within the country.
To date, the full terms of the accord have not been realized, but UN officials
have noted a clear and visible process that is working toward peace.
P resident Joseph Kabila has demonstrated a willingness to
negotiate the terms of peace and has met with President Museveni to discuss the
rebel incursions from Uganda. In
addition, Kabila has attempted to bring the rebel factions to the table to
discuss peace and disarmament. From February through April 2002, an
inter-Congolese dialogue was held in Sun City, South
Africa. These talks involved the Congolese
rebel leaders, Congo
government leaders, and civic groups.
Interfaith Work
The interfaith community in the DR Congo has also been
working to define a plan to ease the country out of its war crisis into a time
of peace. In February 2000, the General Board of Global Ministries funded a
three-week forum, organized by United Methodist Bishop Onema Fama, of the
Central, Northeast, Upper, and West annual conferences in the Congo, to discuss
ways to build peace in the country. The forum brought together religious
leaders of different faiths. The Council for Peace and Reconciliation in Congo
(CPRC), a network of Congolese Christian peace activists, has also been working
to launch peace initiatives through the churches.
In March 2001, the World Council of Churches in Geneva called
together ecumenical partner-church agencies working in the Congo and 10
Congolese delegates to devise a way for the churches and the partner agencies
to work together on the same plan to implement peace. The Presbyterian Church,
USA; the United Church of Canada; the Christian Aid, UK; United Evangelical
United Mission; Missionaries Exchange Mission of Switzerland; the Covenant
Church of Sweden; the SOW Churches of the Netherlands; The United Methodist
Church; the Evangelical Development Service of Germany; and the Life and Peace
Institute of Sweden were present for the consultation. The representatives recommended the
organization of a Round Table for Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. The round table would provide a national forum
for discussion, coordination of policies, planning, programming, and
implementation of initiatives. Representatives from all the affected groups would
attend.
In June 2001, Dr. Randolph Nugent traveled to the Congo to meet
President Joseph Kabila to discuss ways in which The United Methodist Church
could assist in the peacebuilding process in the country. The United Methodist Church, with
six annual conferences that span the Congo, is in
a unique position to help with emergency needs, reconciliation, and
reconstruction.
Round Table Discussions
In March 2002, Bishop Onema Fama attended the Round Table for
Peace and shared with New World Outlook what he sees as the role of the
churches in the illusive search for peace. On a grassroots level, the churches
need to educate people with the basic fundamentals of reconciliation. He also
believes that it is important to expose the abuse and terror that was
perpetrated by the warring factions on the innocent civilian populations. Reconciliation cannot take place
without truth-telling.
The churches in their local communities will spread the news and
reality of reconciliation. The message of God’s love in the form of love for
one’s neighbors and the rejection of violence will be preached from the
pulpits. Regional gatherings of churches and church bodies should continue and
be encouraged. Meetings of the women and youth of the Congo and the
neighboring states of Burundi and Rwanda must
also take place to encourage reconciliation. Women and children on both sides
of the conflict have lost husbands, sons, brothers, sisters, mothers, and
fathers.
The church and partner agencies working in the Congo need to
create special offices that provide services in the area of peace and
reconciliation. Church participation in the peace discussions should continue
and increase. The church and partner NGO agencies will participate in the
rehabilitation of the population, devastated by four years of war, by providing
medical, educational, and social services and counseling for trauma. In
addition, agencies need to provide as much material support to families as
possible and rebuild, restaff, and equip hospitals and clinics.
Support
is especially needed for widows and orphans victimized by the war. Other areas
that need assistance are education for adults, training for community-based
health programs, the reintegration of child-soldiers into society, and the
organization of seminars on the HIV-AIDS crisis in Africa.
Working for Peace
Clyde
Anderson, GBGM executive secretary for Connectional Relations in Africa, said
the DR Congo is facing a “paradigm paralysis.” After 40 years of independence
from colonial powers, there exists no paradigm (model) for national or local
leaders to follow in order to forge peace. One must be created.
Religious
communities throughout the country are trying to do just that. Although at the
grassroots level, church members are in pain and in difficult circumstances,
they are coming together to envision a new life for the DR Congo and search for
a long-term process that will heal a shattered people. In place of ethnic
tensions that cause resentment and violence, new conciliatory relationships
must be formed.
A
major component for building the peace, according to Anderson, will
be training the people in ways to facilitate reconciliation in their families,
churches, and communities. Such ways include mediation, the use of restorative
rather than retributive justice as a model, and other nonviolent methods in
circumstances that, in the present model, would erupt in violence. Churches are
working behind the scenes to provide such training so the people of the Congo will
support the peace process agreed on by the government and rebel leaders and
allow the seeds of peace to germinate. The support of churches outside the DR
Congo and of the international community is greatly needed at this time to
ensure success.
* Clyde Anderson is executive secretary for
Connectional Relations in Africa at the
GBGM. Bishop Onema Fama, of The United Methodist Church in the DR Congo, is the
vice chair of the Congo Peace Committee.
Methodism in the Congo
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The Methodist Church
officially started work in the region through Bishop William Taylor, who was
elected missionary bishop of Africa in 1884 by the
Methodist Episcopal Church. Taylor
began by first visiting Liberia
and Angola
and then went to the Congo
in 1885. Taylor traveled with
corps of missionaries, establishing chains of self-supporting mission
stations that related to each other.
By 1918, the Congo Mission Conference was established, which
became the Congo Provisional Annual Conference in 1955. Work that started in 1912
in Wembo Nyama became the Central Congo Provisional Annual Conference in 1940
and a full annual conference in 1948.
After independence in 1960, Zairean Methodism expanded into the
northern part of Katanga (Shaba),
establishing a full annual conference in 1970.
The United Methodist Church of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo today
has six annual conferences overseen by three Congolese bishops, Onema Fama,
Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda, and Katembo Kainda.
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Timeline for the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
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1960
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The Republic of Congo gains
independence from Belgium. June
30 is independence day. On July 5 the army rebels. Joseph Desire Mobutu, a
29-year-old army chief, arrests Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, favored for the
upcoming popular presidential elections, and turns him over to Katanga
rebels. He is murdered by Belgian mercenaries.
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1965
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Mobutu stages a military coup and seizes the presidency. Over
time he ruthlessly enforces a one-party system and crushes political dissent.
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1971
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Mobutu changes the name of the country to Zaire.
Under an Africanization Policy, all Zaireans are required to take on African
names. Mobutu becomes Mobutu Sese Seko.
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1977
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Exiled Katangans invade from Angola. Foreign
countries, including the United
States, send military and financial aid
to support Mobutu.
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1990s
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Mobutu’s power is threatened by a shaky economy, the end of US aid,
rising political opposition, and strife between Hutu refugees from Rwanda and resident
Tutsis. Mobutu is exposed for human-rights abuses and corruption and
international pressure builds for his removal. Guerrilla leader Laurent
Kabila, aided by other African countries, unites opposition forces to lead a
rebellion.
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1997
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Laurent Kabila’s forces take Kinshasa, the
capital. Kabila declares himself head of state and changes the country’s name
back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mobutu dies in exile in Morocco.
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1998
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Civil war rages between Kabila’s government, supported by troops
from Angola, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, and
rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda.
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1999
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Lusaka Cease-fire Accord is signed. Rebels do not attend the
accord. Rebels continue incursions deeper into the Congo.
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2001
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Laurent Kabila is assassinated in Kinshasa.
Joseph Kabila, Laurent’s son, becomes acting leader of the DR Congo.
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2002
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Rebel and government delegates try to end the conflict and form
a new government at the Inter-Congolese peace talks in Sun
City, South Africa.
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The Mission Magazine of the United Methodist Church
