Africa

• 21 May 2003
  AFRICA/CONGO - MASSACRES, HUNGER, SCARCITY OF MEDICINES…ANGUISHED CALL FROM NORTH EAST CONGO Bunia (Fides Service) – “Supplies of food and medicine are running out, life in the city is becoming unbearable” a local priest in Bunia tells Fides Service. Bunia has been at the centre of fighting between Hema an ...
• 20 May 2003
  AFRICA/TOGO - BISHOPS CONCERNED ABOUT PEACE IN TOGO UNLESS FREE DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS ARE GUARANTEED Lome (Fides Service) – On June 1st there will be a presidential election in Togo a country situated on the Gulf of Guinea and which shares borders with Ghana, Benin and Burkina Faso. The election is important and there ...
• 20 May 2003
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - “LOST YOUTH COMBAT NAMES COSA NOSTRA AND MAFIA ”…SAYS MISSIONARY WHO CRITICISES BEHAVIOUR OF FRANCE IN THIS TRAGEDY Abidjan (Fides Service) – “This is not yet authentic peace” a Comboni Missionary in Ivory Coast tells Fides Service. That country has been in the grip of ferocious civil war since September last year. “Despite th ...
• 19 May 2003
  AFRICA/UGANDA - FREE SINCE YESTERDAY EVENING ANOTHER HOSTAGE SEMINARIAN KIDNAPPED IN LACHOR ON 11 MAY Kampala (Fides Service )- Another of the seminarians kidnapped on 11 May by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Lachor, Uganda, is free. The news was confirmed to Fides Service by Archbishop John Baptist Odama of G ...
• 19 May 2003
  AFRICA/D.CONGO - TWO UN PEACEKEEPING SOLDIERS KILLED IN BUNIA, MARTYR CITY VICTIM OF CLASHES BETWEEN LENDU AND HEMA TRIBES Bunia (Fides Service) – Two members of the UN peace-keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo MONUC charged with monitoring the cease fire, were found dead about 70 km from Bunia in the north east Congo. The ...
• 16 May 2003
  AFRICA/CAMEROON - SALESIANS IN AFRICA: FIFTY PERCENT LOCAL MEN, A SOURCE OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE TO BE ENCOURAGED Yaounde (Fides/ANS) – “I think we can look with confidence to the future of Salesian Africa: almost half our confreres are local men. They are the fruits of our Project Africa” said Father Valentin de Pablo regiona ...
• 15 May 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO- CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF KINSHASA LAUNCHES APPEAL: “UNITED NATIONS MUST INTERVENE TO DISMANTLE NETWORKS OF INTERESTS BACKING AFRICA’S WARS ” Kinshasa (Fides Service) - Dismantle the networks of arms trafficking and financial support behind wars in Africa! This appeal was launched to the United Nations Organisation from the Democratic Republic of Congo at th ...
• 14 May 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - BUNIA, BLOODIED CITY NOW FACES FOOD SHORTAGE: POPE GRIEVES FOR VICTIMS AT NYAKANZA PARISH Kinshasa (Fides Service) – There is still an atmosphere of calm charged with tension in Bunia, in Ituri region, north-east Congo, disrupted in the past few days by violence which did not spare civilians. “The most s ...
• 14 May 2003
  AFRICA/UGANDA - REPORTS OF ESCAPE OF SOME KIDNAPPED SEMINARIANS IN NORTHERN UGANDA ARE FALSE Kampala (Fides Service) – “Unfortunately there is no confirmation of reports that some of the seminarians, hostages of rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army LRA, have escaped” Comboni missionary Father Joseph tel ...
• 13 May 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - “NEW OUTBREAK OF WAR IN CONGO IS NOT ACCIDENTAL, ONCE AGAIN ECONOMIC INTEREST ARE AT WORK” SAYS MISSIONARY Kinshasa (Fides Service) – “At the very moment when the Democratic Republic of Congo strives to restore national unity, war is intensified” Father Francesco, Xaverian mission in Congo, tells Fides Service. The Ital ...
• 13 May 2003
  AFRICA/BENIN - ARCHBISHOP MARTINO: AFRICA NEEDS NOT PITY BUT SOLIDARITY AND JUSTICE: TOO MANY ARE CONCERNED ONLY WITH EXPLOITING AFRICA’S RESOURCES Cotonou (Fides Service) “Development cannot be built on conflicts, discrimination, rancour, exclusion, or the power of weapons. It demands harmony, solidarity, united efforts, justice, respect for others, for human dig ...
• 13 May 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REP. CONGO - IN BUNIA APPARENT CALM CHARGED WITH TENSION. BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES CALL ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO INTERVENE TO PREVENT MORE VIOLENCE Kinshasa (Fides Service) – “In Bunia there is relative calm but ethnic revenge is feared” a Missionary of Africa in Congo tells Fides Service. The missionary, a White Father, asked not to be named for security reas ...
• 12 May 2003
  AFRICA/UGANDA - REBELS ATTACK LACHOR SEMINARY: LOCAL BOY SEEKING SHELTER FROM REBEL TERROR KILLED, FORTY ONE SEMINARIANS TAKEN HOSTAGE, ARCHBISHOP ASKS THE WORLD TO PRAY Kampala (Fides Service) – Forty one pupils at Lachor minor seminary (northern Uganda) were taken hostage by guerrillas of the Lord Resistance Army LRA during the night 10-11 May. The rebels also shot dead a local boy w ...
• 9 May 2003
  AFRICA/KENYA - AT LEAST 20,000 HOMELESS AS TORRENTIAL RAINS CONTINUE: WEAKENED BY DROUGHT AND A FOOD CRISIS PEOPLE NOW FACE FLOODS Nairobi (Fides Service) – There is no let up in the torrential rains which have been causing havoc in Kenya since the end of April. “The worst situation is in Baringo district in north Kenya” writers for CISA Catho ...
• 9 May 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - VIOLENT FIGHTING IN ITURI REGION, PRIEST KILLED IN BUNIA Kinshasa (Fides Service) – Violent fighting is reported in Bunia, in the Ituri region in north east Democratic Republic of Congo. The city has been attacked by thousands of Lendu warriors armed with fire, spears and ma ...