Pope Francis on Sunday urged leaders
of the Democratic Republic of Congo to
act quickly to resolve its political crisis
and curb violence, condemning in
particular the use of child soldiers.
Violence has flared across the country
in recent months, including deadly
confrontations in the Kasai regions, as
President Joseph Kabila has indicated
no plans to step down even though his
term ended in December.
On Friday, a video emerged appearing
to show DR Congo soldiers killing
unarmed civilians in Kasai-Oriental,
while on Saturday officials said
militiamen from the country’s Nande
ethnic group had killed 25 civilians in
the country’s violence-torn east, most
hacked to death with machetes.
“We continue to hear news sadly of
violent and brutal clashes in the Kasai-
Central region of the Democratic
Republic of Congo,” Francis said during
his Angelus address in Saint Peter’s
Square.
“I strongly feel the pain of the victims,
especially the many children ripped
from their families and from schools to
be used as soldiers,” he said.
He made “an urgent appeal” to
“national authorities and the
international community, so that they
take appropriate and prompt decisions”
to end the violence.
Hundreds have died in central Congo in
recent months and tens of thousands
have been forced to flee as battles rage
between security forces and militias.
Kabila, in power since 2001, was to step
down on December 20 at the end of his
second and final term, but refused to do
so.
A deal brokered by the country’s
influential Roman Catholic bishops
allows him to stay in office until late
2017 in tandem with a transitional body
and a new premier.
But efforts to avoid all-out conflict in
the country of 71 million people appear
to have broken down, negotiations
between the government and opposition
parties having stalled.
Francis, 80, also urged prayers for
victims of war and violence in other
parts of Africa and across the world.
He denounced in particular the “cruel
terrorist acts” in Pakistan, where at
least 88 people were killed on Thursday
when an attacker blew himself up inside
a crowded Sufi shrine, for which the
Islamic State group claimed
responsibility.
The attack came after a series of bloody
assaults, including a Taliban suicide
bomb in the eastern city of Lahore
which killed 13 people and wounded
dozens.
