On Wednesday evening, September 29, 2010, at around 7 p.m. local time, the Reverend Father Augustine SIRIMIRWA, Assumptionist, Superior and Pastor of Our Lady of the Poor Parish of Mbau, in the Diocese of Butembo-Beni, in North-Kivu Province in Eastern D.R.Congo, escaped death.

After the evening prayer, Fr. Augustine took his lamp torch to go around the church building checking whether all the doors were well locked for the night. In the recent past, the parish has had breaks in where valuable items from money to musical instruments were stolen. Half way through his routine checking, he saw a gunman in the Congolese military uniform emerging from the dark with a machine gun that he pointed to his head. As Father Augustine tried to ask what the gunman was looking for, another gunman in civilian clothes emerged from the dark with threatening words. The first thing the gunmen did was to take his lamp torch away. With the gun pointing to his head, the gunmen asked Fr Augustine to give money, a lot of money to save his life. Reaching for his wallet, Father Augustine had only 2200 Congolese Francs, that is a little more than 2 US $. He had nothing else. Dissatisfied, with the $2 , the gunmen became more angry, checking Fr Augustine’s pockets to see whether he was not withholding more cash. At this point, the gunmen were threatening to kill him, as he was unable to give more cash.

Coincidentally, a group of young men were passing near the church, making noise, not knowing what was going on the corner of Our Lady of Poor Church. All of a sudden, Fr Augustine saw the gunmen become still. The passage of the noisy youth had had an impact on the gunmen who thought maybe the youth were coming to free Fr Augustine. All of a sudden, the gun pointing to his head was lowered as the gunman in military uniform was watching the movement of the noisy youth. The other gunman pushed Fr Augustine violently asking to leave the place fast. For Fr. Augustine, this was not over because in similar cases the gunmen shoot when the victim is trying to escape from them. Thank God! This was not the case for Fr Augustine for whom, the noisy youth were his archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael whose feast is celebrated on September 29. In fact, the attack happened just after Fr Augustine had offered the evening prayer of the Feast of Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. The archangels saved Fr Augustine! This is how he explained his miraculous escape from death. Similar attacks in this part of Congo lead most of the time to death.

In May this year, St Monica's Parish, which is the unique assumptionist parish in Nairobi, Kenya was attacked nightly by gunmen who unfortunately killed the night guard before looting the parish of all its valuable goods, mostly money.

These two sad events, among others, tell us in what difficult conditions assumptionists are working in Central and Eastern Africa. Nevertheless, the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the worse by all standards. According to the International Rescue Committee's April 2007 report, there is a death toll of 5.4 million people since 1998 (of which 4.6 million are from the 5 eastern provinces). Congo conflict is the deadliest since World War II . As of today, many more Congolese civilians, among whom the youth, human rights activists, journalists, outspoken religious leaders, local tribal chiefs, etc, continue to be killed or to die from conflict-related causes at a rate of 45,000 per month . Moreover, women are raped, dehumanized, and sexually mutilated that they cannot conceive anymore. Farmers are expropriated of their land and crops destroyed in the fields. Houses and properties are burned down sending their traumatized owners in camps for internally displaced persons (IDP) or in the Congo forest where many die from diseases, hunger, malnutrition, insects biting, etc. The land left vacant by the displaced Congolese is now being occupied by new settlers from Rwanda and Uganda called “Congolese Refugees” or “Returnees” by the UNHCR. These attacks on life followed, by the displacement of local populations at gun point, especially in Eastern Congo, have prompted the Catholic Bishops to depict the situation as “a silent genocide.”

According to UN reports, the violence in Congo conflict is a consequence of the plundering of its mineral resources by proxies of international corporations, namely Rwanda and Uganda-backed armed groups, some Congo political and military officials, etc. In view of these reports, it can be said that the Congo Conflict is political, economical, international, etc. International Experts have concluded that the plundering of the Congo's natural resources, Coltan (columbite-tantalite) , Cassiterite, Gold, wolframite, and their derivatives are the conflict minerals. Coltan is expected to be the more valuable mineral of the 21st century, as it is key in the High-Tech industry.

Coltan is used in the making of cellphones’ capacitor and chips devices for computers, play stations, military aircrafts, etc. 80% of the world's reserve is, according to today knowledge, in Eastern Congo. No wonder that this is the most troubled area of the planet. Instead of being a blessing for the Congolese people, Coltan has become a curse. The Congolese who do not live of coltan, die from it any way. Some are being displaced because satellite photography has found coltan under their shanty houses. So to transform eastern Congo into a vast coltan mining area, people are being forced to move by militiamen or regular army troops. Because of this High-tech industry mineral, the free world which is so much dependent on coltan has been unable to abide by the international economic rules.

So far, the American government is the first to pass a law with a specific article on the D.R.Congo, namely US Public Law 111-203, article 1502 of July 3, 2010, Act cited as the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act," that requires the American corporations that deal with minerals from the D.R.Congo and all its neighboring countries, to disclose the route followed by the raw material they use, especially coltan, gold, cassiterite, wolframite, and their derivatives, to make sure that the American market is free of bloody cellphones, computers, video-games, etc. Congolese people hope that other governments around the world will follow the good example of the USA in this regard in order to make all abide by the rules and put in rational and economic terms the purchasing of minerals from Eastern Congo.

But, as in all times of turmoil, men and women of good will around the world, including the D.R.Congo Catholic Church, have been trying to pass on the message to correct the view of the Congo conflict as held by the media of the empire (or establishment). In the D.R.Congo where Catholics represent more than 70 % of the Congolese population, they have paid the bitter price of this battle for the oppressed. In the sole ecclesiastical province of Kivu, three archbishops have been killed, including an Assumptionist, by forces seeking to silence and subdue this whole province of Kivu.

Yesterday's attack of Fr Augustine, speaks up this forgotten human tragedy going on in Eastern Congo since 1996, as the world saw what happened in Armenia, Shoah, Cambodia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan, etc.

The Assumptionits who are missionaries in Eastern Congo where they run parishes, schools, radios, social centers, and a local university, need your support as they have decided to remain with the oppressed, and keeping alive the memory of Christ “the wounded healer”. Threats of death and assassination attempts have not deterred them from witnessing to Christ. Keep them in your prayer.

Those who would like to support the mission of the Assumptionists in the D.R.Congo or in the Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda can do so through the Development Office of the Assumptionists of the USA Region, 330 Market St, Brighton, MA (USA).

A message of support can be sent to Fr Augustine and the parish where he is the pastor and superior of the assumptionist community, at aambau@gmail.com 

Vincent K. Machozi, A.A.
Assumptionist Center
Brighton, MA (USA)