AFRICA/CONGO DR - Xaverian Missionaries say: “Do not blame missionaries and small charities for the scandalous involvement of well-known mining companies and Western governments in the war in eastern Congo."

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – “A group of UN experts has presented the UN Security Council with its latest report on the implementation of UN Resolution 1533 from 2004 on the DR Congo, in particular on the embargo of arms for the armed groups active in the east and on the illegal exploitation of mineral resources. Although it is 'strictly confidential,' many in the press have published extensive excerpts from it,” says an editorial piece from the magazine “Missione Oggi” (Mission Today) of the Xaverian Missionaries in Italy, a copy of which was sent to Agenzia Fides prior to its publishing.
The group of experts mentioned some cases of small charities and individuals, including missionaries, who had contributed to the financing of the FDLR (Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda) and to spreading information, thus preventing their neutralization and the repatriation of their members (see Fides 27/11/2009).
"We must remember that the FDLR are a really varied group, which have been joined by former soldiers from the FAR (Rwandan Armed Forces) and Interahamwe, but the priority is to look to the large number of civilian refugees, a roaming people that has spent 15 years wandering and lives in the forests. Beset by war and neglected by international humanitarian organizations, including the UN, didn't those civilian refugees have a right to aid? The report refers to a payment of $2,000 for the purchase of plastic sheeting for makeshift roofs of huts, medicines, and educational materials. According to the logic of the report, then, these people should be left to die of hunger, cold and disease just because they are on the losers' side?" the editorial of the Xaverians comments.
"The press has devoted many lines to these last few cases, extrapolating the facts out of context and interpreting them in a crude and tendentious manner. One wonders why. Might it not perhaps be an intent to blame missionaries and small charities for the scandalous involvement of well-known mining companies and Western governments, although not exclusively, in the perverse interplay amongst the illegal exploitation of resources, illegal trade in arms, geopolitical strategies, and the continuation of the conflict?" the editorial inquisitively concludes. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 1/12/2009)