of the Congo (CENCO), read to the media by its Secretary General, Fr
Léonard Santedi (photo above)
***
1. We--Cardinal, Archbishops, and Bishops, members of the National
Conference of Bishops of the Congo (CENCO), meeting in plenary
assembly in Kinshasa from July 2 to July 2012--express our profound
worry on the subject of the balkanization plan time and again
denounced in our prior statements and messages; and of which the war
that still ravages North Kivu is an illustration.
2. That plan no longer goes by unnoticed by attentive observers of the
situation of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is being implemented in economic terms with the presence of
networks of illegal exploitation of natural resources, an unacceptable
presence of militias (and armed groups), causing the forced
displacement of Congolese populations with the aim of achieving an
illegal occupation of our territory.
3. The CENCO, concerned by the unity of the Congolese nation
continuously threatened by successive wars and rebellions, reaffirms
the unity and the indivisibility of the Democratic Republic of Congo
within its borders inherited from Colonization and internationally
recognized on June 30, 1960.
4. The CENCO vigorously disapproves of and publicly condemns this
iniquitous plan of splitting up the Congolese state.
It firmly condemns the resumption of war in the Kivus and at the same
time it affirms its support to the efforts of the FARDC and of
Diplomacy to defend the territorial integrity of the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
It expresses its compassion to the stricken populations that suffer
the agony of this unjust and unjustifiable war.
5. The CENCO invites all elected representatives of the Congolese
people, all its leaders at every level as well as the entire Congolese
people to patriotic engagement so as to not give in to this macabre
plan, to denounce all the strategies aimed at weakening national
unity, the anarchic and illegal exploitation of our natural resources
as well as well as anything aimed at dividing tribes and provinces
against each other.
The natural resources of the Congo belong to the Congolese people and
should absolutely first serve to its integral development.
6. The CENCO insistently urges all Congolese residing in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and those living abroad to mobilize so as
to thwart this hostile and destructive plan.
For that purpose, actions will be undertaken simultaneously in all
parishes of the dioceses of the Democratic Republic of Congo to
express our categorical refusal of this plan and to implore the grace
of peace.
7. The CENCO calls on countries bordering the Democratic Republic of
Congo to give priority to peace and to pacific cohabitation in order
to allow sustainable development in the subregion of the Great Lakes.
8. The CENCO sounds the alarm and sends an impassioned plea to the
United Nations and to all nations who stand for peace to have them
condemn this balkanization plan and to openly support the Democratic
Republic of Congo in protecting its national unity, for a genuine and
lasting peace.
---Kinshasa, July 5, 2012
***
PHOTO CREDITS: www.cenco.cd
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