Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – On the fifth anniversary of the assassination of the Italian ambassador to Kinshasa, Luca Attanasio, Carabinieri officer Vittorio Iacovacci, and Mustafa Milabo, a driver for the World Food Programme (WFP) – events that remain shrouded in mystery (see Fides 23/2/2021) – the situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is more serious than ever.
“Our situation is becoming increasingly catastrophic in North and South Kivu. The occupying Rwandan army, along with its administration in the controlled areas, is looting without restraint: it imposes multiple taxes, appropriates the profits of state-owned enterprises that cross the border (into Rwanda) daily, and forcibly collects insurance.” Furthermore, it subjects the population to beatings and humiliations for trivial reasons, simply to intimidate and instill fear. The M23/AFC, backed by Rwanda, is consolidating its administrative control in both provinces more and more each day. In short, we live under constant humiliation. However, the courage and resilience of the population remain strong. As for me, I continue to carry out my awareness-raising work as best I can, keeping a low profile. Your prayers are truly precious.” This is how a veteran of civil society in South Kivu expresses it, with an anguished but unresigned voice. After the failure of all the agreements solemnly signed in Washington and Doha (see Fides, 27/6/2025 and 19/8/2025), it is becoming increasingly clear that the true objective of the mediation was to seize the strategic mineral wealth of eastern DRC, wresting land from China and Russia. Meanwhile, the dialogue promoted by bishops and other religious leaders has stalled in the face of resistance from the country's president, and war and oppression continue on the ground. Although the occupying Rwandan army and the M23/AFC (Congo River Alliance) front rebel movements have left the city of Uvira (see Fides, 23/12/2025), they remain in the surrounding area, and fighting continues in the nearby hills and mountains. Thousands of displaced Congolese live in abject poverty in Burundi, waiting to return home, but the border remains closed. The risk is that the DRC will continue to be the scene of proxy wars between major world powers—primarily the United States and China—through armed gangs and local rebellions. From a humanitarian perspective, the only solution would be for Congo to invade Rwanda to destabilize the regime that, for years, has been fomenting wars and massacres in the east of the country and force it to withdraw its troops. However, this would require leaders truly committed to the fate of their brothers and sisters in the east, something that seems unrealistic. Furthermore, it would require a cohesive, well-paid, and disciplined army, capable of acting with conviction and numerical strength. But the leadership is too deeply entrenched to avoid aligning itself with the Rwandan forces, and the high human cost of such an operation is well known, not only among soldiers but also among women and children.
So what then? The question is once again directed to the international community: Does its intervention still make sense? Have the values that underpin the Charter of the United Nations become meaningless? Or has the European Union aligned itself with Trump's triumphant policy of reaping benefits while pretending to promote peace? On February 13 of last year, the European Parliament almost unanimously requested that member states suspend the treaty on strategic minerals signed with Rwanda a year earlier, in the midst of the war of aggression. However, the leaders responded timidly and ignored Parliament's decision. Since then, apart from a few isolated statements, a general attitude of resignation has prevailed. Who will pay the price for so much suffering? The silence of the local churches is, in this context, deafening. (Agenzia Fides, 23/2/2026)
