Situation update

According to a recent telephone conversation with Rev. Ilumbe last Thursday, the situation is better but still very difficult.

Here is the latest information from Oskar Pekombe from the General Office of the Disciples of Christ in Congo, which is located in Mbandaka.

The security situation is still not back to normal. People do not leave their houses after dark. The soldiers sent to protect the people are guilty of much of the on-going violence. Sunday, April 18, there was a lot of fighting around Bolenge as soldiers acted on false information that the Enyele were in the area. The Bolenge hospital, supported by the Disciples, was quite busy treating numerous people who were wounded in the fighting. At least two persons affiliated with the church, a boy and a pregnant woman, were shot. The boy was killed; the mother was operated on in the Bolenge hospital, but both she and the fetus died.

Humanitarian organizations, including Doctors without Borders, have arrived to help care for those wounded in the fighting. Areas from which Mbandaka normally receives its food supply are under control of the military, and people are afraid to bring their agricultural
products to market for fear of being robbed by the soldiers.
Consequently, the price of food is mercilessly high. Other retailers are also afraid to be open for business. The UN is returning and there is a request to declare the city a disaster area, since there is so little food and the prices are so high that no one can buy it.

Rev. Bonanga, General Secretariate for the CDCC, has returned from Boende to Mbandaka, but had to travel through Kishasa to reach the city.

The Enyele tribe lives in an area north of Mbandaka called Kungu. A local dispute escalated and spilled over to Bomongo, just upriver from Equateur province. Currently the term is used to refer to the rebel group fighting the government both locally and nationally. The movement is not at all defined, making it even more difficult to deal with the fighting.

Here is an update from Oscar Pekombe on the current situation in Congo. Oscar works in the General office of the Disciples of Christ Community in the Congo and is the Secretary for the Partnership Committee of the Mbandaka District and the Indiana Region.

Translation of his message provided by Gene Johnson in Illinois:

We thank the Lord Almighty for the opportunity for us to contact you about the situation in Mbandaka. Easter 2010 was a terrible experience and unusual to Mbandaka.

While we were in worship April 4, Enyele insurgents arrived at a private port of Mbandaka to head to the Government buildings of the Provincial Assembly and finally the airport. Soon, our Armed Forces were reorganized for the attack at the airport with the support of UN forces. It was 5 p.m. that the local airport was taken over by government forces. During all this time, the churches were empty of the faithful who could not resist as the noise of bullets and heavy weaponry going off reached their ears. Our pastors struggled to calm the crowds and worship services ended.

We are not mistaken to declare that more than half the population have not had enough to eat because there was no market and stores were closed. The price of food soared and since Monday have been multiplied by four. We do not know if the political frustrations are at the base of the insurrection which began as a disagreement between two ethnic groups over management of fishing ponds and has ultimately taken the form of a poorly organized guerilla movement.

The results of all this are not yet known fully, but there are about 10 dead.

In our Parish of Basoko a church member was killed during the worship service by a government soldier who broke into the church and opened fire on worshipers. May his soul rest in peace.

Our PSP, Rev. ILUMBE is doing well but does not leave his house since Sunday.

We are still happy to inform you that the Armed Forces generally behaved in the right way unlike the civil misdeeds they commit elsewhere. So Mbandaka is a city protected by God.

On Sunday and Monday people did not go out of their houses which had no electricity or water. This Tuesday, April 6 we have timidly been able to go out a little so we can communicate now.

We are very confident about the current security developments. God is
great. Flights resumed at the airport at Mbandaka. A good sign.

We leave you in the hope that you will continue to pray for this city, for the CDCC (Community of Disciples of Christ in Congo) and its leaders, for our pastors and Christians of Mbandaka.

Fighting Erupts in Mbandaka-Home of the Community of Discipes of Christ in Congo

Fighting has erupted in the city of Mbandaka located in the Equator Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has been reported by our partners on the ground, as well as National Public Radio, that early Sunday morning (April 4, 2010), while many parishioners participated in Easter morning services, that more than 200 armed soldiers in opposition to government authorities entered the city by river and clashed with government and United Nation troops.

It was reported that some of the troops seized control of the Mbandaka airport while others took control of the city of Mbandaka and its communication networks. Earlier portrayed as an ethnic conflict over fishing rights, the invasion of Mbandaka brings to light the suffering of people in the Equator province that has been silenced by the Kabila government over the past seven or eight months.

In a telephone conversation with a partner on the ground, the Global Ministries Africa Executive Sandra Gourdet learned that church parishioners remained in churches overnight to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Rev. Bonanga Eliki, President of the Community of Disciples of Christ Community is currently traveling in the interior of the country with a German group.

The true number of casualties is not yet known. It has been reported by the news agency that one Ghanaian UN soldier was killed and that another person died of a heart attack.

The Africa Office of Global Ministries will closely monitor the situation and send out updates as information is received. Please keep our partners in prayer as anything that happens in Mbandaka will directly affect them.

More Musings

Joy in the midst of struggle. We saw sobering poverty in the Congo - in malnourished children, in bare classrooms and inadequate medical facilities, in a lack of basic infrastructure. We heard heart-wrenching stories about war in the eastern part of the country and the brutality carried out against civilians. We know that life for our church partners is challenging in some ways that we have never had to face. And yet, the Congolese people are quick to smile. Laughter comes easily. And in worship, the joy is palpable. The three and a half hour service that we were in felt a little long, but not nearly as long as I would have thought, due largely to the sense of joy that came through, particularly in the music.