On the morning of January 27, 2025, the armed group M23 (March 23rd Movement) and Rwandan troops (RDF, Rwandan Defense Forces) entered the northern limits of the metropolis of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). With the city surrounded, citizens caught in a vice, with the only possibility of escape now being via Lake Kivu.
With this statement, Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada express its solidarity with the Congolese people, especially in North and South Kivu, and with the thousands of children, women and men displaced by the conflict. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our DRC partners, particularly the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO). CENCO is promoting a structural pathway to peace and stable, democratic rule of law in the DRC, as described in the roadmap of the Social Pact for Peace and Living Together in the DRC and the Great Lakes Region, an initiative co-led with the Church of Christ of Congo.
We are also partnering with the CENCO through the Women’s Dynamic initiative of the Episcopal Justice and Peace Commission for implementing the Electoral Education and Inclusive Governance Program, which is financed by Global Affairs Canada. This program promotes the greater inclusion of women in political life at all levels, whether to safeguard democratic processes, particularly during elections, or to combat the socio-cultural obstacles that deny women a place on the road to peace and democracy.
Today, more than ever, the people and committed actors of the DRC need our support. As CENCO and the Church of Christ have asked, they need the international community, “to stop the noise of arms… by ending the illicit exploitation of natural resources in the DRC and armed conflicts in the Great Lakes Region” (see article in French), and to make peace our priority.
We would echo today’s appeal by the Bishop of Goma (see statement in French) for all parties involved in the current armed conflict to show absolute respect for human life, to not restrain access to basic services for all and to abjure sexual violence, in accordance with human dignity and international law.
