Reconciliation in Congo

Pakisa Tshimika

When Pakisa Tshimika, associate executive secretary of Mennonite World Conference and founder of Mama Makela House of Hope, visited his homeland more than a year ago he reported that the situation in DR Congo was the worst he had ever known. “I could not help but cry,” he said, observing what was happening to “this beautiful and potentially rich country and its people.” He also returned with the message that the large Congolese Mennonite community felt isolated, even abandoned, by North American Mennonites (see Sept. 23 MB Herald). This January, Tshimika visited DR Congo again and sent this update.

January 27 was a special Sunday in the city of Kikwit, Congo, home to more than 5,000 Mennonite Brethren.

It was a special Sunday because, on this day, more than 450 MBs from over a dozen area churches witnessed, in the Kimpwanza MB church, the beginning of an end to a conflict that ravaged the Congo MB Conference for almost two years. The mood was one of festivity, which this church has not known for some time.

The conflict may have been latent for years but flared up when the outgoing general secretary of the conference made a series of nominations to key positions just as he was leaving the office. The nominations were contested by many who considered them a strategy to get leadership into the hands of people of his tribe. Incoming leaders were caught in the conflict and found themselves deeply absorbed by it, especially when a group representing the outgoing general secretary took their defense of his actions to court.

The conflict started to take its toll on the church. Those in leadership were divided along tribal lines. They did not trust each other. They would not even consider sharing a meal together. They also began creating alliances among lay members.

When I visited them in January 2005, the conflict was at its highest point. One group belonging to the outgoing general secretary was ready to leave and start its own conference.

We agreed to bring together a dozen people from the community who are trusted by many within the Congo MB Conference to discuss ways of putting an end to the conflict. We worked on a strategy so the incoming and outgoing leadership teams could at least meet to finalize the end of term for one and the beginning for the other.

A group of Congolese Mennonite Brethren gathered in 2005 to process internal leadership conflicts.

Commitment from all

We also agreed that resolving the conflict would be a long process requiring a commitment from all parties involved, as well as the country’s larger MB community. A few months later, Dr. Nzash Lumeya, a former Congo MB Conference leader who now lives in Fresno, Cal. met with the group to continue the reconciliation process.

Pascal Kulungu

In the meantime, lay members of the conference became fed up with the conflict. Recognizing that those in conference level leadership were no longer capable of putting an end to it, they organized a team to assist the process. Pascal Kulungu, a Fresno Pacific University graduate in Leadership and Peace studies, was chosen as facilitator. He thus became the main mediator.

This January, when I visited Congo again, I witnessed the preparation by Pascal and other lay people in dealing with the conflict. A special meeting of the Conference Executive Committee was called in Kikwit. For two full days, Pascal worked with the leaders together and separately.

By Saturday evening they came to an agreement that made it possible to separate administrative issues from interpersonal ones. The committee was able to annul several nominations and new candidates were officially nominated. They set up a mechanism for dealing with the interpersonal issues, and agreed to have a public ceremony during which confession and forgiveness would be expressed.

It was a very emotional time for all who attended and participated. It was also obvious that this was not an easy thing to do for many of these leaders. Now it was no longer a private affair but a public one. Tears of joy and pain were shed – in public. Although painful and humbling, it was a great testimony for the church.

In a photo taken last year, current Congo MB general secretary Pelende Damien (l) with former general secretary Ndunda Gilbert.

Bankruptcy, optimism

More than 30 years of dictatorship by Mobutu Sese Seko, followed by seven years of civil unrest, have left Congo economically and socially bankrupt. Civil workers have been without pay for a long time; families find it difficult to feed their children. Many young people finishing university are without jobs. The country has become morally bankrupt; conflicts are common in the society in general and the church in particular.

One political leader in Kinshasa told me that he had a hard time trusting the church because it was no different than the rest of society. He said he didn’t understand how a church (Mennonite) with a peace theology was experiencing conflict all the time and going as far as taking each other to court.

I also arrived in Kinshasa a few days after the results of Congo’s constitutional referendum were published. The mood was very positive because the country now has a constitution that guarantees the rights of its citizens, which is paving the way for local, regional, and presidential elections to be held before June 30. There was a sense of optimism in the air. People on the street talked about national reconciliation, adopting the Truth and Reconciliation Model used in South Africa.

Is that Sunday morning in Kikwit a glimpse of what will occur in Congo at the national level? Will we see tears of pain and yet joy from humble hearts among top leaders in all the churches and political parties?

I think the Congolese people are ready for long-lasting peace. They want to move on with their lives. They want to be able to pay for schooling and medical care for their family members, travel without fear of being attacked by rebel groups, and attend church services trusting and believing in their leaders. There is a sense of fatigue about the conflict. It drained energy to a point of not leaving much for accomplishing what counts or is life-giving.

Small steps of reconciliation are good signs for the country. When leaders can humble themselves as they did in Kikwit, chances are many others will follow. In a country where more than 80 percent of adults profess to be Christians, such acts can have a major impact on the society in general.

Please pray for lasting peace, humble hearts, and a free and fair election in Congo.

—Pakisa Tshimika