Assailants Attack, Injure Catholic Priest in DR Congo, Diocese Calls for Investigations

The statement continues, “The parish priest escaped with wounds to the head, arm and back on the left side and fractured fingers, some of which were cut off.”

“He was able to save his life by escaping from them by running, but under shots fired in the air,” the statement recounts the Monday morning episode and continues, “Arriving at the nearby village of Ikpa, he was taken to the Fataki Referral Hospital by a young man on a motorcycle.”

“Because of the great agitation that was already in Fataki following the shots heard, he was taken to the Bule Health Centre where he received first aid,” the statement signed by the Chancellor of the Curia, Abbot Eric Masini Mbundu recounts.

Through the intervention of United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), the Priest was later airlifted to the General Reference Hospital of Bunia where the “nursing staff is confident about his state of health,” the March 9 statement reads.

The Diocese of Bunia is located in the north eastern gold-rich Ituri region of DRC, which has been experiencing inter-ethnic conflict between the pastoralist Hema and agriculturalist Lendu communities since the 2000s. However, the violence escalated in December 2017.

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According to the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO), Lendu armed groups have become notorious in carrying out attacks against the Hema and members of other ethnic groups with an objective of taking control of land and resources.

The January 2020 report by UNJHRO also indicates that between December 2017 and September 2019, at least 700 people have died due to the violence, 168 others injured and 142 sexually abused.

The letter that was signed by the Chancellor of the Diocesan Curia “also pleads for the urgent securing of Fataki and its population.”

The Chancellor’s statement concludes by inviting “all the faithful to continue to pray for the injured Priest and in general, in this time of Lent, for the conversion of hearts and the re-establishment of peace in Ituri.”

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.