A bishop prepares volatile Congo for peace

"We ourselves have to work with the political leaders to make the way for elections to take place, and prepare a solid arena where we can talk about peace," says Kuye-Ndondo. "But until there is security, we cannot talk about truth, the truth of what happened. There are some villagers who were victims of crimes, and there are some among the authorities who committed crimes against humanity. There are even belligerents in the office of the TRC itself. That is why we need the international community for some time."

Coming from the Swahili-speaking eastern part of Congo, in the region of South Kivu, Kuye-Ndondo has witnessed perhaps more war than many city-dwellers of Kinshasa. "There are many mass graves in the east," says Kuye-Ndondo. "Many cases are brought to us, but we can do nothing without security. We ask them to wait till the times when they can make their case openly, and justice can be rendered."

Kuye-Ndondo admits that peace in Congo will take something of a miracle. With rival political factions still armed, with international peacekeepers itching to leave, and with many victims of war crimes uncertain of their future, Congo is teetering between peace and war.

"In the past few years, we have been busy mostly on the pacification of communities, to allow for this election to take place," he says. But while the TRC has focused on getting communities to support the peace process, and asking victims' families to set aside their demands for justice, Kuye-Ndondo is preparing for the second and larger part of his mandate, to bring justice to the families of war victims.

Kuye-Ndondo has sent out teams to prepare to receive cases, and negotiate deals between victims and perpetrators. But this process cannot even begin, he says, unless foreign peacekeepers extend their missions to provide security, and unless there is a stable government to maintain peace among political factions.

Yet, despite the threat of renewed violence, the EU announced Monday that its troops would leave Congo beginning at the end of this month as planned.

In this frustrating interim period, between war and peace, Kuye-Ndondo urges his congregants to pray. And the bishop himself knows that even political situations as difficult as the South African transition from white- to majority-rule have succeeded when people of faith, like Archbishop Tutu, step up to take responsibility and action.

Referring to the parable of Jesus, that even faith as small as a mustard seed is powerful, Kuye-Ndondo says he believes in miracles. "It is because of my faith in God that I accepted this job, to lead the commission, and I think that God who helped start this peace process from stage one will be with us to the end," says Kuye-Ndondo. "That is the faith that I have."

Page: 1 | 2