Tuesday, 10 July 2012

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Congo (CENCO) condemns "Balkanization Plan"

Below is the communiqué of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops

of the Congo (CENCO), read to the media by its Secretary General, Fr

Léonard Santedi (photo above)





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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





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PHOTO CREDITS: www.cenco.cd

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