THEOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO THE MAI-MAI CONFLICT

Abstract

In the year 2002, after six years of civil war, a peace agreement was signed between different political parties and militia groups of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Sun City of the Republic of South Africa. The Mai-Mai of the North Katanga province were left out of the peace agreement. Unfortunately, despite the immediate ceasefire that followed the agreement, fighting broke out between the Mai-Mai and the regular army in Ankoro, a small town in the North Katanga where Laurent Kabila was born. That very day at least 100 civilians were reported to have been killed and 75,000 civilians displaced to other remote areas. Thereafter, the conflict spread to most areas of North Katanga, leaving behind many casualties. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in DRC reports that by December 2005, the number of displaced persons in North Katanga exceeded 100,000. Since then most of the efforts made to stop the Mai-Mai conflict have not brought sustainable peace and reconciliation to the local communities of North Katanga. In 2005-2006 the Congolese Government deployed 5,000 to 6,000 troops to capture a certain leader by the name of Kyungu Mutanga Gedeon who has formed an alliance with a dozen Mai-Mai groups. In this regard Mr. Edgerton, the Chief Executive of OCHA in Katanga Province, said recently, of the displaced people recently interviewed upon their arrival in Dubie said they fled their villages more than two months ago and had been living in the bush. Many arrived with clothes rotting off their bodies. This picture of the Mai-Mai conflict in the North Katanga should appeal to anyone who has love for the other — every clergy, Christian, church member and others — who wish to look for ways to resolve the conflict. Despite of the great number of Christians in the DRC, only a few have been truly active in trying to bring about peace and reconciliation in the country. The major players such as the Englise au Christ du Congo (EEC) did not have a clear theology in order to face the challenges of their task. Conflicts such the one with the Mai-Mai groups have therefore