wfn.org | WCC - Uprooted people tell tales of suffering and hope

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Feature, Feat-01-15
For Immediate Use
19 September 2001

Uprooted people tell tales of suffering and hope

Raymond Bitemo

When fighting broke out between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and
Burundi in 1994, about a million refugees fled into what is now
called the Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC). In 1996,
widespread fighting in the RDC between rebels and government
forces caused further refugee displacement. The devastating civil
conflict in the RDC was renewed in 1998 and fighting continues
sporadically, exacerbating the severe problem of uprooted people
- refugees and internally displaced - in the region.  

As well as doing all it can to try to stop the war, that it sees
as the root cause of uprootedness in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (RDC), the Church of Christ in the Congo (ECC) held an
extensive consultation in Kinshasa, 5-16 August, to educate its
leaders and members on the issue of uprooted people and develop
practical responses.  

The ECC is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC); the
August consultation was followed by a meeting of the ECC
executive committee that focused on the same issues. This article
by Raymond Bitemo is the second in a series of three articles on
uprooted people in the DRC, and part of a longer series on
refugees and internally displaced persons. Bitemo, from
Congo-Brazzaville, was forced to flee his home but now again
lives in Congo-Brazzaville.  
----------------

A Church of Christ in the Congo (ECC) consultation held in
Kinshasa from 5 to 16 August was, amongst other things, a time
for listening and sharing.  Two testimonies from uprooted people
brought home to the participants what it means to be a refugee or
an internally displaced person.  

Pastor Kongo, now general secretary of the Maison de la Bible in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC), recalled the outbreak
of the Mulelist rebellion at Bondo in the eastern province, in
1964.  "I was only seven at the time.  My parents and brothers
and I fled the fighting, and were forced to keep moving on.  
 
Our long journey eventually took us into exile in the Central
African Republic.  The rebels, who had managed to kill all his
colleagues in the civil service, were looking for my father.  We
endured moral and physical torture, frustration and all kinds of
traumas, and survived by small trading, working in the fields,
cutting firewood and other odd jobs.  Added to all this was the
difficulty of getting an education.  But I must acknowledge the
generosity of the humanitarian agencies that provided us with
food and medicines."   

Referring to "the war of occupation that started in 1998, with
its trail of outrages against innocent people", Pastor Kongo said
he is ready "as a pastor and servant of God" to forgive the
killers and murderers.  "If I was given the opportunity to preach
in Rwanda and the aggressor countries, my message would be one of
love for our neighbours, peace and repentance.  The blood of too
many thousands of innocent people has been shed in the Great
Lakes region."   

Driven out of the Congo-Brazzaville by the war, Sidonie Malanda
(adopted name) told the consultation that "This is the second
time I have come into exile in Kinshasa through Bas-Congo. The
first time was in 1997, and I have been here now since March
1999.    

"I was a candidate for the post of prime minister of the
transitional government at the time of the sovereign National
Conference in 1991, and this was the reason for some of the
harassment I was subjected to later.  Having been trained in
international affairs, I never hesitated to offer the leaders of
my country advice, and I have been suspected, blacklisted and
placed under surveillance ever since. I had to live
clandestinely, and several times was subjected to attacks by
armed men.  

"During the war in 1998, I got away by climbing over the back
wall of my house.  Some of my relatives were massacred, and I
don't know where my husband and our children are, or even if they
are still alive.  At first, I was displaced in my own country,
and spent months in the south-eastern forests, where I suffered
all kinds of degrading treatment (torture, rape, death
threats...)  So I decided to head for Kinshasa through Bas-Congo.
 When I arrived in Bas-Congo, I was subjected to ill treatment by
the Congolese police force.  But after a while, my Congolese
brothers and sisters took me in, and I was able to recover some
peace of mind.  Memories of the nightmare I endured forces me to
stay here, with the help and protection of a family who have
taken me into their home. The secret of my resistance," she
concluded, "is my faith in God, and prayer."  

The two testimonies greatly helped the consultation to identify
the causes of uprooting - fear, humiliation, insecurity,
intolerance, hatred...; the needs of uprooted people - food,
clothing, protection, affection, reassurance, hospitality,
information about their rights...; and the sources of their
strength - faith in God, prayer, determination, hope...  Bearing
in mind all these elements of uprootedness, Rev. S. Tilewa
Johnson, bishop of Gambia and president of the All Africa
Conference of Churches' (AACC) Committee on Refugees and
Emergencies, called on the ECC "to involve uprooted people in
identifying their needs and to build bridges between them and
their host communities".   

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter,
Media Relations Officer, Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53  Mobile:  (+41)
79.284.52.12

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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