Congo-DRC

Answer to Prayer

The Church’s social impact has grown, since it has emerged as the only viable national structure to endure in the general social, political and economic collapse of the country. Despite the destruction of countless churches and ministry buildings, only the Church has plugged the gap left by a failed state in terms of caring for the many needs in this broken land. In the much-needed area of peacemaking and reconciliation, Christians and churches lead the way for a new start to a land that desperately needs one.

Challenge for Prayer

The wars of the 1990s and following embroiled the military forces of seven nations and provoked the rise of local inter-ethnic conflicts and warlords. None of these forces and factions had Congo’s best interests at heart. Most foreign forces have withdrawn, although Rwandan troops often cross the border to pursue rebels. Many militias are still at large, and the ravages of war must still be repaired. Pray earnestly for:

a) Hostilities to cease and peace to take hold. Now, only the eastern Kivu and northeastern areas remain unstable with regular violence, a patchwork of rebel forces and militias. Pray for international bodies, regional governments and the woefully inadequate DRC army and police to act with justice, decisiveness, wisdom and authority in making and keeping peace. The UN peacekeeping force (MONUSCO) is large but impossibly overstretched in its new remit to help rebuild Congo.

b) Illegal forces to be disarmed and disbanded. Most militias have devolved into little more than personal armies of dangerous warlords, wreaking terror upon an innocent and helpless populace far from the safety of government or international forces. Included among these are the Lord’s Resistance Army (from Uganda) and countless groups in the provinces of Kivu, Maniema and Orientale, including PARECO, CNDP, FDLR, FNI, Simba, Mai-Mai Simba, Mai-Ami Kapopo, Mai-Mai Yakutumba, others. Providing jobs and even basic needs as incentives for these desperate men to lay down their arms is a great challenge. Pray for these men to be convicted and disillusioned with this life and for those continuing to perpetrate such violence to be stopped. Pray for past and present warlords and war criminals to be stopped and brought to justice.

c) The return of the 1.7 million displaced people to their homes. Around 1.3 million people in the east of the country alone have been uprooted. Life in refugee camps is miserable and uncertain. Those interned are vulnerable to militia attacks, disease and sexual predation, and they live with little or no resources for anything beyond mere survival.

d) The cessation of war crimes and exploitation of the conflict. Untold horrors have been committed against many thousands of innocents. Rape is routinely used as a weapon of fear, as are mutilation and torture. Stealing cattle – the portable wealth of many tribes – is a normal activity for militias, as is illicit mining of diamonds and other resources to be sold to unscrupulous foreign buyers. Pray for an end to such evils.

     For an additional 6 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.