CENCO AND ECC LAUNCH THE INITIATIVE OF A SOCIAL PACT FOR PEACE AND WELL-LIVING TOGETHER
CENCO AND ECC LAUNCH THE INITIATIVE OF A SOCIAL PACT FOR PEACE AND
LIVING WELL-TOGETHER
IN DR CONGO AND THE GREAT LAKES. THE TWO RELIGIOUS CONFESSIONS ARE ATTEMPTING TO RECONCILE THE DRC, RWANDA, UGANDA AND BURUNDI.
For the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) and the Church of Christ in Congo (ECC):
- Political and armed conflicts as well as their procession of divisions and devastating impacts on human life, the environment and the socio-economic conditions of people can no longer leave us indifferent. Every day that passes is one day too many! And day after day, time slips away and the dark prospects of a humanitarian catastrophe with incalculable consequences become clearer.
- Let us therefore hasten to seal with all responsibility and all ceaseless affairs this “Social Pact for Peace and Living Well-together in the DR Congo and in the Great Lakes”. The saving outcome of this “Social Pact” will allow Africa to free itself from political and armed conflicts to become part of the logic of the global fraternity of peoples, communities and Nations, thus promoting the model of the stable and solid democratic rule of law in our different countries.
- To achieve this, the two religious faiths call for massive and enthusiastic support for this prophetic and pastoral appeal of CENCO and the ECC, which invites the Congolese community to interact and exchange based, among other things, on the following postulates:
1. Return to the sociological and spiritual values of BUMUNTU to build lasting Peace and Living Well Together in the DRC and the Great Lakes Region.
2. Favor consensus through palaver to find suitable solutions to the root causes of the political and armed conflicts which endlessly mourn the DR Congo and cyclically bloody the Great Lakes sub-region.
3. Unite while respecting our diversity to build a strong, united and prosperous Africa in the face of the challenges of globalization. “The journey towards peace,” writes Pope Francis, “does not imply the homogenization of society, but rather allows us to work together.” Pope Francis, Fratelli tutti, 228. There is
the possibility of “overcoming what divides us without losing our personal identity” (Fratelli Tutti, 230).
4. Influence the political leaders of Africa in general and the Great Lakes Region in particular to adhere to this socio-spiritual initiative to stop the noise of weapons in our continent and to build bilateral and multilateral partnerships for our integral and sustainable development (business for peace), putting an end to the illicit exploitation of natural resources in the DRC and armed conflicts in the Great Lakes Region.
S. Call on the international community to support the African people with all responsibility and sincerity in building and bequeathing a continent where justice, peace and the best living and environmental conditions reign for future generations. - Towards the end of this month, CENCO and the ECC will present the various thematic commissions relating to peace and living well together, the subjects of which will be explored in depth in several workshops and may be transformed in resolutions and recommendations to be recorded in "a national charter for peace and living well together", during a national forum to be organized in a few months.
- Which will be a good preparation for the holding of an "International Conference for Peace, Co-Development and Living Well-together in the Great Lakes" which the two Churches consider necessary to put an end to cross-border conflicts.
- CENCO and the ECC will make advocacy with the main socio-political actors at the national and international level in order to collect their opinions and create synergy around this project which, once adopted, will give rise to a new modus vivendi in the DRC and in the Great Lakes Region.
“TSHISEKEDI AND THE UDPS WILL DIABOLICLY OPPOSE THIS WONDERFUL PROJECT OF CENCO AND ECC”
SIMARO NGONGO