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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Clinton visit shines spotlight on Africa's forgotten region
By John Newton and Eva-Maria Kolmann
A map of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Aid to the Church in Need has endorsed Hillary Clinton’s call for sexual violence to stop in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Christine du Coudray, head of Aid to the Church in Need’s projects in Africa, welcomed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the crisis-torn Kivu region in the east of the DR Congo.
“Her visit refocused the world’s attention on a region that had been, to an unbelievable extent, forgotten,” said Miss du Coudray.
Mrs Clinton spoke out against rape and other sexual violence committed by the army and rebel groups – according to the United Nations more than 7,500 cases of sexual violence were reported in 2008.
Miss du Coudray said that despite the vast numbers of UN troops stationed in the country help frequently arrived too late to make any difference when rebels struck.
She said: “This is the recurring complaint of the ordinary Congolese people, who have again and again been victims of massacres, mass rape and bestial atrocities of every kind.”
She added: “For the rest of the time, in their ordinary daily lives, the people only have the Catholic Church to help them.”
Miss du Coudray reported that the UN did not offer support to families taking in refugees from war-torn areas.
Underlining how their only source of help is the local Catholic Church, she said: “Such acts of genuine neighbourly charity are not encouraged [by the UN] and the host families get no help with feeding the refugees.”
Sister Espérance Hamuli, the superior of the Ursuline Sisters, described how religious orders have risen to the challenge of helping those affected by ongoing violence in DR Congo.
She said: “We want to rescue the young people who are in danger of being wiped out, and we want to cry out still louder on behalf of those who have no voice, so that our people can know that there is a way out of their suffering, a way to life and not only of violence.”
Sister Hamuli is one of 37 superiors of women’s religious congregations in the region who, with help from Aid to the Church in Need, are coordinating their work with the suffering and traumatised population.
Miss du Coudray reported how one Sister told the charity: “We are in solidarity with the people. When they are tortured, we sisters are also tortured.
“If solidarity means dying with them, we die with them. If it means living with them, we live with them.”
Miss du Coudray described the Religious Sisters’ presence as “a kind of martyrdom.”
In a country where children frequently fight in rebel militia, Aid to the Church in Need is supporting much-needed projects providing basic education for children.
Miss du Coudray said: “Children who do not get the chance to go to school not only have no future, but are frequently also exploited as child soldiers.”
The charity is also supporting pastoral outreach to soldiers, to promote respect for human life and dignity.
“In a region plagued by veritable orgies of violence, this kind of apostolate can truly save human lives,” Miss du Coudray insisted.
With many people in DR Congo traumatised by rape and other atrocities, she described the urgent need to help individuals rediscover their sense of self-worth and human dignity.
Miss du Coudray stressed that Aid to the Church in Need is almost alone in this region in its commitment to a genuine “culture of life.”
“Many NGOs think they are helping by offering women abortions, the ‘morning-after pill’ and artificial contraceptives,” she said.
“But Africans see these ideas as alien to them. They understand at once that this is not a culture of life, but rather a culture of death.”
Last year Aid to the Church in Need supported the work of the Catholic Church in DR Congo with more than £1.75 million.