AFRICA/CONGO DR - An uncertain Christmas in East Congo, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are living in make-shift camps. Reflections from a missionary.

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - “What is cause for concern is the situation of absolute uncertainty that continues to weigh heavily on Congo and on the neighboring countries, like a black cloud,” Fr. Antonio Trettel, Javerian missionary, writes from Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. “Even when the situation seems to have calmed down a bit in recent weeks in Goma and the surrounding areas (at about 200 km from Bukavu, in the to the North of Lake Kivu), there are still armed groups in the area, who continue to use child soldiers. The war could erupt into even more violence at any moment.”
“The political situation is continually more uncertain and produces inefficient results. The truth is that the government is not only weak, impotent or accomplice, but it is also paralyzed with fear of the various world powers that present themselves as the ones with the perfect solution, more than willing to give advice that no one asked them for, to present their diagnosis (which of course is always impeccable, although it contradicts the the recent solution given by the previous counselor) and to awaken Congo from its coma. The sad part is that it is precisely these powers that have reduced Congo to the state it is now in, as they are the ones financing the various mercenary groups, with the intention of illegally exploiting the country's natural resources. This is the true cause of the situation and it is precisely the part that no one wants to acknowledge nor solve!
In the meantime, the humanitarian situation is increasingly more catastrophic and tragic, both for the hundreds of thousands of people in Goma and the surrounding areas, who are constantly fleeing violence, as well as for the other 60 million Congolese people...who are without a country, without work, without peace, without dignity, without a true national autonomy, and with the structures and infrastructures (highways, schools, medical services, administrative services) in a state of calamity.
Fr. Trettel, however, was hopeful in concluding: “And the real Christmas – doesn't it say that 'we will be visited by the sun that rises on high, to lead our steps on the path of peace?' I think that this is really true and I hope so, with all my strength! If you all believe, too, then we should desire with all our hearts, without it being simply a cliché, a formality void of meaning...a merry Christmas.” (LM) (Agencia Fides 22/12/2008)