An Anglican pastor was among 50 people killed in separate attacks in the troubled eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Local officials and monitor groups said on June 1 that the attacks on May 31 night were the worst seen in at least four years in the troubled Tchabi and Boga regions in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, bordering Uganda.

The army blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist armed group, for raiding villages.

Albert Basegu, head of a civil rights group in Boga, told Reuters that he came to know about the attack there by the sound of cries at a neighboring house.

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An Anglican pastor among 50 people killed in separate attacks in the troubled eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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— UCA News (@UCANews) June 2, 2021

In the past month, three new military bases have been established by the United Nations’ peace-keeping force in the democratic Republic of Congo – MONUSCO – in the Djugu territory of Ituri province, but it has so-far failed to stem the increasing tide of violence. Last week, 33 people were killed in an attack on the village of Maze. The Bishop of Bogo, Mugenyi William Bahemuka, has said that it is “difficult to confirm” that the recent violence is an extension of ethnic and tribal conflicts. “Is it a planned insurgency that will turn out to be either a civil war or a genocide?” he asked. “Both are situations no one would like to experience. Once again we need prayer and advocacy for peace.”

Bishop William said: “It is becoming difficult to understand the main reason of the killings in Djugu. The situation appears to be beyond control as time goes on. The Provincial and National governments keep assuring people that that situation will come to an end soon. Community leaders and politicians from the two communities claim to dissociate an ethnic conflict on what is happening in Djugu.

“On the night of Thursday to Friday, the village of Maze and few surrounding villages were attacked – and this is happening after the deployment of police, the army and United Nations’ peace-keeping forces in the area. . . Who is behind all this? No answer is found yet.”

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Anglicans around the world are being asked to pray for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo as tribal violence continues to claim lives in the Ituri Province in the north-eastern area of the country. The Ituri city of Bunia is home to one of the largest UN peacekeeping forces in Africa as international troops seek to intercede between the warring Lendu and Hema peoples. At the weekend, 26 people were killed when a Hema village 31 miles (50 km) north of Bunia was attacked by Lendu tribes people. The Revd Bisoke Balikenga, national youth co-ordinator of Province de L’Eglise Anglicane Du Congo – the Anglican Church of Congo – is urging Anglicans to pray for the country.

In 2016, the church established a peace centre in Bunia as part of its care for women and girls who have been raped by combatants. Bisoke, who is helping to run the centre, responded to the weekend’s violence by asking people to pray. He said that 200 houses in the Hema village were burned before residents were killed by machete, creating “a lot of trauma among the Hema.”

He said that some shops and petrol stations in Bunia had been closed and that there are “some young people who like to make chaos”. The state governor is leading a delegation to the affected area to see what is happening. “Please pray for him in order he can bring peace there in that place,” Bisoke said.

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The Archbishop of Congo, the Most Revd Henri Isingoma, has stepped down, the Province de L’Eglise Anglicane Du Congo (Anglican Church of Congo) announced today. Archbishop Henri, who is also Bishop of Kinshasa, has taken the decision to have a health improvement break and return to theological academia.

His resignation comes three years before the completion of his second five-year term of office; and seven years before the usual retirement age of 65 in the Anglican Church of Congo.

The Archbishop has served Katanga, Boga and Kinshasa dioceses as bishop.

“He has worked hard and contributed so much to the Christian unity, transparent and apolitical management of the Anglican Church of Congo,” the provincial secretary, the Venerable Anthonio Kibwela, said.

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The Anglican Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is breaking new ground by bringing help and hope to a Pygmy community living in the country’s forests.

Pygmy peoples live in several ethnic groups across the forests of central Africa. There are an estimated 250,000 to 600,000 living in the Congo rainforest alone.

These forest dwellers have lived by hunting and gathering for millennia. But in the past few decades their homelands have been devastated by logging, war and encroachment from farmers. Their appearance and lifestyle means they have also been marginalized by much of society

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Arriving in Goma, the Archbishop said: “I am delighted to be visiting Goma with my wife Caroline to show the love and solidarity of the wider Church amidst all you have been through. We pray for stability and a lasting peace for DRC.

“The Anglican Church in the Congo has shown remarkable initiative and resourcefulness in helping communities address the challenges affecting their life. I look forward to seeing some of those initiatives in action, both in the building of a sustainable peace, and the protection of women from gender-based violence and providing of much needed care.

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Bishop Ande Georges from the Diocese of Aru, in the Oriental Province of the DRC, is calling for support from fellow Anglicans to expand their work with communities affected by ongoing attacks from rebel groups and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Already doing everything they can to attend to the needs of their communities, churches are desperate to provide more support and show God’s strength and victory to those facing this humanitarian emergency.

This detailed explanation from the Bishop explains how two areas in his diocese have been particularly affected by the violence….

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Reports of fresh fighting around Goma and attacks on women in the conflict zone have been sent to the Anglican Alliance from the Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It has increased pressure on the project run by the Anglican church in Goma, in the Diocese of Bukavu, to support women and girls rejected by their families after being subjected to sexual assaults and rape – which is being used as a weapon of war.

The Anglican clergyman who is organising the programme, sent the following report of renewed fighting: “Yesterday, Sunday afternoon after Church morning services, there were lots of chaos, due to bombs that were booming around Goma. The media said that it was a fighting between M23 and DRC government army.

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One of the member schools in Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion (CUAC) in Africa has been affected by the fighting in Congo.

Despite being 250 miles north from the fighting in Goma, the Université Anglicane du Congo experienced its first attack since its opening two years ago. The Revd Canon Daniel Sabiti Tibafa, the university vice chancellor, has sent the following report:

“Yes, the morning night of 22 December 2013 at around 2:00 am, armed people broke the door of our house threatening to kill all of us if we did not have any money on us. They forced the door with heavy stones”¦and the guns to destroy the lock of the door. In the house we managed to get $200 and they forced me to take them into my office where we got another $250. They beat me on the back and on my right hand. The right hand pain is still being dealt with by our lovely nurse Miss Kiiza Kahwa.

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An Anglican bishop from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is urging the world to focus its attention to the “neglected” humanitarian crisis in northeastern Congo, where nearly half a million people have been displaced by armed conflict.

Bishop Bahati Bali-Busane Sylvestre, of the diocese of Bukavu, recently visited refugees from North Kivu and described their situation as “pitiful.” Thousands of refugees have sought temporary shelter at a refugee camp and in Anglican schools and church buildings.

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I am extremely thankful to Archbishop Isingoma for offering ongoing canonical residence to our bishops and clergy, and I look forward with anticipation to a long-term relationship with him, a desire he expressed in London as well. In the near future, I expect other jurisdictions will also invite clergy to be canonically resident in their provinces, mirroring the Anglican Mission’s original model of oversight and connection to the Global South through the provinces of South East Asia and Rwanda. In addition, I am pleased that an agreement has been reached allowing Bishop TJ Johnston and Bishop John Miller to be received temporarily into the Anglican Church of North America and to serve as assisting bishops within two dioceses. These bishops will continue to oversee Anglican Mission congregations with written permission from their bishops, Neil Lebhar and Foley Beach. This decision demonstrates our commitment to being a multi-jurisdictional entity. Bishops Johnston and Miller will also continue their conversations with Bishops Riches and Masters regarding a future connection with the Anglican Church in North America. There is no need for parishes to make any choice about jurisdictional relationships. Congregations will, of course, remain in the Anglican Mission unless they choose to disaffiliate and join with some other group or entity.

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While in London, we had the opportunity to talk at length together about the continuing turbulence from the separation of the Anglican Mission in America from its founding church, the Anglican Church of Rwanda. The House of Bishops of Rwanda has recently declared the establishment of a Missionary District in North America (PEARUSA) as its only continuing work on this continent and has offered a deadline of August 31 for clergy and churches to determine their future jurisdiction. There are three options available: remain with Rwanda through PEARUSA, transfer to another Anglican jurisdiction through letters dimissory, or follow the Anglican Mission into its new venture. Provision and procedure for each of these options is available or is being developed as rapidly as possible. (These materials will be available through the www.pearusa.org website as they are developed.)

At the same time, there has been a great deal of confusion recently around the issue of the resigned bishops of the AMiA, their relationship with Rwanda, and their possible relationship with ACNA. We write this communiqué together primarily to address that confusion.

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In 2004 a man serving on our vestry decided to leave his wife after only two years of marriage. There was no adultery, no abandonment, nothing. He’d just grown tired of her and wanted to find someone new. He and I were close. I trusted him. He’d been instrumental in saving my job. When liberal members of Good Shepherd, upset over the stance I had taken with regard to Gene Robinson, called a parish meeting at another local Episcopal Church trying to gather support to have me ousted, this man rallied my supporters and showed up at the meeting with the majority of the congregation behind him.

So when he came seeking my blessing for his divorce he may have expected me, for the sake of our friendship and his past loyalty, to give it. Instead I told him that he needed to step off of the vestry. I told him that in order to remain a member in good standing he’d need to halt his divorce proceedings, go to a Christian marriage counselor, and commit to reconciliation.

He refused.

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A Special Message from the Chairman, Chuck Murphy:

At the close of this year’s Winter Conference, we issued a Communiqué expressing the mind of the gathering. One of the key components and goals of that Communiqué, as well as subsequent communications from our Council of Bishops, was to “diligently seek appropriate jurisdictional connections” with an authentic and orthodox Anglican Communion province. As we continue to celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection during this Easter season, it is a particular joy to report the good news that our goal has now been realized. This week, I received an official letter from Archbishop Henri Isingoma of the Anglican Church of the Congo, receiving me as a Bishop of the House of Bishops in his Province and offering us a new canonical residence. In response to a recent letter from Archbishop Rwaje asking our bishops to translate to another Anglican jurisdiction by the end of this month, I had earlier requested that he send my letters dimissory to the Province of the Congo.

This transfer follows a process of relational reconciliation with Rwanda facilitated by Archbishop Eliud Wabukala. These conversations culminated in our meeting in Johannesburg and the Communiqué in which Archbishop Rwaje agreed to release theAM to develop other jurisdictional relationships. Under our accord with the Province of the Congo, we are now secure and validly attached to the global Anglican Communion. Rooted in the East African Revival, the Province of the Congo [formerly Zaire] was originally joined together as one larger province, which also included Rwanda and Burundi. In 1992, all three were subsequently established as separate provinces. The Anglican Mission’s connection with the Congo began at Winter Conference 2012 when Bishop William Bahemuka Mugenyi generously made provision for scheduled ordinations to go forward.

We are very grateful to Archbishop Henri for his warm welcome to the Province. As we continue to transition toward a Mission Society with oversight provided by a College of Consultors, we remain committed to the multi-jurisdictional model that launched the Anglican Mission in Singapore (the Provinces of Southeast Asia and Rwanda). Toward that end, conversations with other jurisdictions including the Anglican Church in North America will continue.

Now that a new canonical residence provides for our bishops and clergy to transfer from Rwanda to the Congo, I have been asked to facilitate the transition and therefore, requests for transfers should be sent to the Mission Center.

We look forward with great anticipation to the multi-layered process of developing a Mission Society designed to encase our values and facilitate our desire to be a mission, nothing more and nothing less. While we continue our consistent focus on planting churches in North America, our process will include careful consideration of our present structures including the roles of bishops, the Mission Center and its staff, and our Networks as we prepare to develop the constitution and statutes that will ultimately order our common life. We are scheduling several meetings in which we will discuss and seek input from clergy and leaders throughout the Mission to assist us in designing and vetting the shape and specific details of our proposed Mission Society. We expect to complete these conversations by mid-October.

The Council of Bishops and our leadership team are united in a vision to further develop and carry forth an Apostolic/missionary (sodality) call to reach those outside the faith in effective, creative and entrepreneurial ways. This journey is well underway, and we invite and encourage you to celebrate and press on with us.

In Christ,

–(The Rt. Rev.) Charles Murphy is Chairman, AMIA

The Rt. Rev. William Bahemuka, the Bishop of Boga Diocese in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has issued a call for emergency support to avert increased militia attacks in the region of Bukiringi, 15 miles north of Boga, the seat of the Diocese.

On Friday, 24th February, as the Bishop travelled from Bunia to Boga, he was stopped by the militia on the road and they demanded payments from him. After giving them money, he was released and proceeded safely to Boga. The militia has shown willingness to enter into talks with the Government, but the Government has taken a long time to respond in the wake of their recent contested elections.

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Claims the Anglican Mission in America has been given a home in the Anglican Church of the Congo are false, the Primate of the Congolese church, Archbishop Henri Isingoma of Kinshasa tells Anglican Ink.

The Anglican Church of the Congo plans to endorse the Anglican Covenant at its forthcoming general assembly, the archbishop said, and would not violate the recommendations of the Windsor Continuation Group and initiate a cross border intervention in the jurisdiction of another Anglican province.

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The recent visit to Pittsburgh of the Anglican archbishop of the Congo, Msgr. Henri Isingoma, calls attention to a problem that is largely being ignored, the country’s plight in the face of years of war and bad government.

Its population is estimated at 70 million and the nation is huge, about the size of the United States east of the Mississippi. It is rich, with copper, cobalt, coltan, gold, diamonds, oil, timber and hydroelectric power capacity as well as endless agricultural lands. It has an active press, with numerous dailies, weeklies and journals.

But the Democratic Republic of the Congo has known endless war from 1996 to the present….

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