SW News: Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo urged the faithful to march for peace on December 4. They also invited the religious to make gestures of solidarity through prayer and fasting as the country undergoes severe insecurity problems.

In a statement released on November 11 at the end of the extraordinary plenary assembly from November 7-9, held in Kinshasa, the members of the Congolese National Episcopal Conference (CENCO) have lamented over the ongoing violence in the country.

The bishops also asked the faithful to congregate from every part of the country and stand up to protect the integrity of the country. They said, “Let’s not Balkanize the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From north to south, from east to west, as well as in the diaspora, let us all stand up to safeguard the territorial integrity of our country.”

In the statement, the bishops also invited the faithful “to fast, to pray, to make gestures of solidarity” with those hit by violence. They also exhorted them “to march peacefully on Sunday, December 4th” to end the turbulence and violence in the country.

The advice for the march for peace came as more than 100,000 people fled their homes and many were killed in a fight between Congolese soldiers and the M23 rebel group.

Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo began 30 years ago and until now more than six million people were dead and 4.5 million people were forced to flee their homes.

Apart from the UN’s peacekeeping mission, violence in the country has been at its peak for the past year as national security forces are fighting more than 100 armed groups, especially in the eastern part of the country.