Congo

Written by Mary Stata

The United States Congress recently passed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, opening the door for increased U.S.-supported military involvement in the region.

The bill, which is intended to stop the kidnapping and raping of civilians and the inscription of child soldiers by the rebel group, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), also includes critical development and justice initiatives that many nongovernment organizations support.

The Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is providing relief to more than 1,000 people, some of whom are former child soldiers who fled a Ugandan rebel group inflicting raids on villages in the Congo.

Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group, has raided villages over last two years in the northeast region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Killing people indiscriminately and stealing food, the group often abducts children for their own usage.

March 4, 2009
(Editor's note: In this article a Congolese Mennonite pastor and peace activist describes what God’s people, including Mennonite families, in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu are experiencing. He challenges the Mennonite church of Congo, of Africa and of the world to support these people, created in God’s image, who are suffering greatly.)

Hope and suffering: the cry of a people in distress in eastern Congo