Displaced Receive Assistance
People living in a camp for displaced people carry supplies from a distribution site in Goma, Congo, after receiving food assistance from The United Methodist Church. With funding from the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the church distributed over 198 tons of food and non-food items to displaced families in the Masisi region. (Photo by Chadrack Tambwe Londe, UM News)
World Council of Churches | Jan. 26, 2025
Amidst a surging conflict in the east, United Methodists join Christian denominations in the Democratic Republic of Congo have launched a strategy to help churches confront prolonged violence and humanitarian crisis in the central African country.
The “blueprint” named, “Social Pact for Peace and Living well together in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Great Lakes Region,” is the joint work of the Church of Christ in Congo – the union of over 60 Protestant denominations and the Catholic Church.
At the launch, Rev. Eric Nsenga, general secretary of the Church of Christ in Congo, and Fr Donatien Nshole, general secretary of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo, said the “peace” and “living well together” were an urgent emergency that stood at the people’s doorsteps.
“In this year of Jubilee…our prophetic mission makes it our duty to exhort people, communities, and the state of our sub-region to fulfill the duty of human beings towards themselves, that of peaceful co-existence and supportive co-existence,” said the leaders in a statement.
The roadmap comes as conflict surges in eastern DRC following the reemergence of the M23 rebels. The rebel faction—allegedly backed by Rwanda—had remained dormant until 2022, when it launched fresh attacks. As it steps up action and gains more territory, it is also triggering a new wave of displacement in the eastern province of North Kivu.
According to Amnesty International, by April 2024, the conflict in eastern DRC had displaced at least 7.3 million people. The war has killed more than 6 million people since 1998, when it started.
“Every day that passes is one too many! And day after day, time is running out and the dark prospects of a humanitarian catastrophe with incalculable consequences are becoming clearer,” the leaders said.
Now, the churches’ plan to rally congregations, politicians, and local communities around the goal of ending conflict and peaceful coexistence.
While the usual diplomatic efforts achieved minimal success in ending the conflict, the churches' strategy seeks to employ the traditional African method of conflict resolution, which involves dialogue under the palaver tree.
“Where have our sociological and spiritual values of Bumuntu gone, which were the ontological foundation of our Africa identity? Why are we no longer able to resolve our problems under the palaver tree as our ancestors knew how to do so, wisely?” the leaders posed.
The leaders want the people to massively embrace and adhere to the prophetic call of the two church groups. Among others, the clerics are calling for a return to sociological and spiritual values of Bumuntu [Ubuntu] to build lasting peace and living together in the DRC and in the Great Lakes Region.
They also want the communities to prioritize consensus and dialogue in search of solutions to the root causes of political and armed conflicts in DRC.
The churches will implement the strategy through in-depth workshops, whose recommendations and resolutions they hope to transform into a national charter for peace and living together.
Bishop Mande Muyombo oversees the Congo Central Conference, which is part of the North Katanga Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church.