* ‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit’—(Psalm 34:18)
* ‘And whenever one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it’—Corinthians 12:26
By Duncan Mlanjira
The All Africa Conference of Churches — the continental ecumenical body that accounts for over 200 million Christians across the African continent — is requesting its members to indulge in “ceaseless prayers for God’s intervention in the disturbing situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and bring enduring peace to the region”.
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The largest association of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, and Indigenous churches in Africa emphasises: “It is no news that our brothers and sisters are in desperate and distressing situation that require our prayerful accompaniment and solidarity.”
The AACC thus invites the members to passionately pray for:
* The DRC authorities to continue to apply wisdom and resources to provide protection for citizens and the distressed civilians in particular;
* The authorities to take concrete steps to address the drivers of conflict in the east of the country and the provision of emergency relief to the many affected communities;
* The processes that will follow the resolutions of the joint East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of States Summit; and
* All the stakeholders in the DRC conflict to be sensitive to the plights of the victims and work towards restoration of peace and wellbeing of the devastated communities.
“May the God of life, love, peace and comfort intervene in this situation! says the statement issued today, February 12, issued by General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Fidon Mwombeki — and quotes the Bible: ‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit’—(Psalm 34:18).
“And whenever one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” Corinthians 12:26.
Women and children suffering most
According to a report by Deutche Welle, despite a regional summit held on Saturday in Tanzania — co-chaired by SADC’s chairperson, Zimbabwe President Emerson Mnangagwa and EAC’s William Ruto, President of Kenya to stop fighting in the eastern DRC — “there is no resolution in sight”.
At the summit— Chiefs of Defence Forces were directed to meet within 5 days and provide technical direction on immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of hostilities in the Eastern DRC.
The Summit further directed the SADC-EAC Chiefs of Defence Forces to oversee the provision of humanitarian assistance including repatriation of the deceased and evacuation of the injured and they were also to develop a securitisation plan for the intense conflict zone of Goma and its surrounding areas as well as to oversee the opening of main supply routes.
These include Goma-Sake-Bukavu; Goma-Kibimba-Runangabo-Kalengera-Rutshuru-Bunagana; Goma-Kiwanja-Rwindi-Kanyabayonga-Liberia — including navigation on Lake Kivu between Goma and Bukavu.
The defence chiefs are also to monitor the immediate reopening of Goma Airport and and to advise on other related facilitative interventions.
Other Heads of State at the Summit were the host, Samia Suluhu Hassan (President of Tanzania); Felix Tshisekedi (DRC); Paul Kagame (Rwanda); Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa); Yoweri Museveni (Uganda); Hakainde Hichilema (Zambia) and Hassan Sheik Mohamoud (Somalia).
Representing Malawi’s Lazarus Chakwera was Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo); from Burundi, Lieutenant General Gervais Ndirakobucha (Prime Minister); Angola by Ambassador Tete Antonio (External Minister); South Sudan by Deng Alor Kuol (Minister of East African Community); and Madagascar by Lieutenant Lala Monja Delphin Sahivelo (Minister of Armed Forces).
Also present was chairperson of African Union (AU) Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat as a huge concerned by the AU since the armed conflict has resulted in loss of lives, created a humanitarian crisis as well as suffering of people, particularly women and children.
But, according to the report by Deutche Welle filed yesterday, “prospects for peace seem far from certain, even though Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his DRC counterpart Felix Tshisekedi took part in the summit, albeit with Tshisekedi joining via video link”.
At the centre of it all, Kagame and Tshisekedi
“While the summit’s final statement affirmed support for the DRC’s territorial integrity and urged the opening of humanitarian corridors to evacuate the dead and wounded, it made no explicit reference to Rwanda or its part in the conflict, even though a United Nations report last year said Rwanda maintained around 4,000 troops in the DRC and had de facto control of the M23.
“Afterwards, Kagame said his country will not be silent if its security is threatened, and criticised Tshisekedi for shifting blame for the conflict. Rwanda denies it supports the M23, or that it has troops in the DRC.”
Congolese army unable to stop M23 advances
The Deutche Welle further reports that by the end of January, the Rwanda-supported M23 rebel group claimed control of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province in the eastern DRC, and ordered government troops to surrender.
“Appearing before an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, DRC foreign minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner asked what international law Rwanda would still need to violate for global agencies to respond with concrete measures.
“Though the United Nations itself had reported Rwandan troops were escorting the M23 fighters, the statement released at the UN Security Council’s meeting merely called for the removal of “external forces,” without specifically naming Rwanda.”
Deutche Welle quotes a representative of the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) as saying that last week, at least 2,900 people had been killed as the M23 militia claimed control of Gome on January 27 and in the immediate aftermath.
“If nothing is done, the worst could be yet to come,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk is quoted as saying in Geneva on Friday.
Red Cross workers bury victims of violence in Goma—Picture by Deutche Welle
Meanwhile, the SADC-EAC joint Summit came after the two regional bodies held separate extraordinary meetings on January 29 by EAC and January 31 by SADC — with both involved in the process of bringing lasting peace and security in the Eastern DRC.
Both extraordinary Summits separately called for the Saturday joint summit to deliberate way forward regarding the deteriorating security situation in the DRC, and resolved that within 30 days, the SADC-EAC Chiefs of Defence Forces are to have address all other residual issues relating to the attainment of sustainable peace and security in Eastern DRC and make appropriate recommendations to the next joint meeting of EAC-SADC Summit.
They are also to oversee the modalities for withdrawal of any uninvited foreign armed forces from the territory of the DRC be developed and implemented.
Both regional bodies merged the separate resolutions they made at their respective Summits, calling for cessation of hostilities and an immediate ceasefire; restoration of essential utilities and supply lines for food and other essential commodities to ensure humanitarian support; and peaceful resolution of the conflict through the Luanda/Nairobi process.
The SADC Summit on January 31
And having appreciated the critical role by Luanda and Kenya process, the SADC-EAC Summit agreed to merge the two in order to be strengthened and enhance their complementarity.
The co-chairs of the peace processes were mandated, in consultation with the African Union, to consider and appoint additional facilitators including from other regions of Africa to support the merged process.
A directive was also made for the resumption of direct negotiations and dialogue with all state and non-state parties (military and non-military) including M23 and under the framework of the merged Luanda/Nairobi Process.
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The SADC-EAC Chiefs of Defence Forces are also to review the establishment of secretariat level technical coordination mechanism to monitor implementation of the joint summit decisions; and to check on the elaborate roadmap that will detail immediate, medium and long-term implementation measures including financing modalities.
The SADC-EAC Heads of State reaffirmed their “solidarity and unwavering commitment to continue supporting the DRC in its pursuit of safeguarding its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as sustainable peace security and development”.
Similar consultations were agreed that they “shall be convened at least once every year and as, and when, the need arises to review matters of common interest to the two regions”.
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