The city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the CONGO (DRC), home to a large Baptist population, fell into the hands of the M23 rebel army in November 2012 after M23 engaged government troops in battle to control the city.


Baptist families displaced in GOMA 4000 M


for the Community of Baptist Churches in Eastern Congo, told the Baptist World Alliance®


ike Musafiri, director of Development and Relief Ministry on November 20, “I can confirm that the


town is under the control of rebels.” He said that some 4,000 Baptist families were among those that were displaced by the fighting. “The humanitarian situation is pitiful,” he said. “There is no


electricity, no water in some areas.” Some residents, he said, were fetching water from Lake Kivu, which was salty and unsafe for human consumption. Musafiri reported that persons were unable to go to church on


Sunday, November 18, because of the intensity of the fighting. “It was not possible to reach the church due to the bombs and gunshots between the rebels and the regular army.” Fighting was intense through November 20, but by the afternoon, “the town is very quiet, no gunshots, no bombs,” Musafiri said. Schools were also affected. “Some schools opened their doors


but many parents didn’t send their children to school fearing what can happen,” Musafiri said. Many residents of Goma, including displaced persons living in


IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, crossed the border into Rwanda seeking a safe haven. Pascal Ndihokubwimana, aid and development director of the


Union of Baptist Churches in Congo, said that the Kanyaruchinya IDP camp, which housed some 16,000 displaced families, was emptied as its residents were told to leave. He said that on November 18, a female resident of the camp, which is about 10 kilometers north of Goma, informed him that police and camp administrators told residents on loud speakers to leave the camp as M23 rebel fighters advanced toward Goma. The people, she told him, fled the camp in panic. Many families got separated in the process. Ndihokubwimana’s informant told him that she was separated from three of her eight children. A number of Baptist churches served as shelters for residents


and IDPs, including Hekima Baptist Church, which housed as many as 150 persons. Many were from the Kanyaruchinya IDP camp as well as residents from areas in and around Goma such as Kibati, Kanyandja and Munigi. Ndihokubwimana told the BWA that “Hekima church’s compound and sanitary conditions are not designed to lodge such a large number.”


Some Baptist families housed displaced persons. Musafiri housed two such families at his home.


The March 23 Movement (M23) was formed in April


2012 when several hundred soldiers turned against the armed forces in the DRC, citing poor conditions in the army and the unwillingness of the government of the DRC to implement an agreement signed on March 23, 2009. That agreement, from which the group took its name from the date of the accord, integrated the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) into DRC’s armed forces. The M23 rebels, who are mainly from the CNDP faction in the army, have been active in North Kivu province, where Goma is the capital, fighting government forces and militias supported by the government. On December 4, 2012, Musafari told the BWA that


M23 rebels had withdrawn their fighters from Goma and that Congolese army troops had returned and retaken control of the city. “The UN mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) is continuing to monitor the withdrawal of


the rebel group from the wider Goma area in accordance with agreements reached by the International Conference on the Great Lakes region,” Musafiri said. The conference was held in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on November 24. The DRC has been bedeviled by wars and conflicts going


back decades. An estimated 5.4 million persons have died as a result of the conflicts, making casualties in the DRC the costliest in human lives since the Second World War. The BWA has passed a number of resolutions on the


conflicts in the DRC, which has the second largest Baptist membership in Africa, with more than 2.1 million members in 15 BWA member organizations. A 2011 resolution expressed concern about conflicts in the eastern part of the DRC due to “the struggle for access to and control of the region’s vast mineral resources.” The resolution noted that the DRC supplies 70 percent of the minerals used to make cell phones, laptops, and other popular electronic devices. There is need, the BWA said, for “companies and


individuals trading in minerals from Eastern Congo to work for peace and promote justice in the region” and for Baptists to advocate with companies “to create conflict-free supply chains and a conflict-free mining sector in Congo.” Women and young girls are at special risk in the DRC,


according to the resolution, with Eastern Congo described as “the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman or a girl” due to widespread rape and other forms of violent assaults.”


Displaced persons in Goma being housed in the Hekima Baptist Church


Photos courtesy of the Union of Baptist Churches in Congo


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