By Paschal Norbert
ROME, MARCH 15, 2024 (CISA) – “Enough silence,” “Hands off the Democratic Republic of Congo,” “Enough with the wars for minerals,” “More than 12 million dead.” These were the words written on proclaimed slogans by the Congolese community living in Rome as they marched through the streets to condemn the spate of violence, create awareness around the conflict and promote peace in DRC on March 10, 2024.
“What is happening in Congo is serious and the world doesn’t talk about it, because the media owners themselves perhaps also have interests and investments in Congo. This is why the Pope said it well, ‘hands off the DRC’,” said Fr Roger Balowe Tshimanga, chaplain of the Congolese community in Rome.
The Sunday march started with Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Piazza Pasquino, presided over by Archbishop-elect of Udine, Italy, Rt Rev Riccardo Lamba, and then moved through the prescribed streets of Rome to St. Peter’s Square in time for the Holy Father’s Sunday Angelus.
“Today the war in Congo becomes more serious than the World War, but what is surprising is that no one talks about this. So, we Congolese must defend our country. If the world does not speak, we ourselves must speak and that is what we are doing today,” noted Fr Tshimanga.
At the Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis acknowledged the community saying “And while I affectionately greet the Catholic community of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Rome, let us pray for peace in this African country as well as in tormented Ukraine and in the Holy Land, let the hostilities that cause immense suffering among the civilian population cease as soon as possible.”
Also present were the Ambassador of Haiti to the Holy See, His Excellency Jean Jude Piquant and the Ambassador of the DRC, His Excellency Rigobert Itoua, who underlined the importance of the event as “a day to support peace and stop atrocities against our people.”
An estimated 150,000 people half of which are children have been displaced in the escalating violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, there are reports of bombs falling on civilian locations, including in the Zaina site in Sake and the Lushagala site in Goma, where as many as 65,000 internally displaced people are sheltering, raising significant concerns for their safety.
The agency says the indiscriminate bombing is amplifying the strain on already limited resources to accommodate 800,000 internally displaced individuals in the region, and 2.5 million displaced across North Kivu Province.
