Screenshot from TV5 Monde's Youtube channel. 

During the recent Papal visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between January 31 to February 3, Pope Francis seemed to refer indirectly to the conflict which is ravaging the east of the country.

The DRC has been in the grips of a conflict in Ituri and North Kivu, in the east of the country on the Rwandan border, for over two decades. On October 20, 2022, renewed tension flared up between the DRC authorities and the M23 rebels who accuse the Congo authorities of failing to follow the peace accords signed in December 2013. 

According to Bruno Lemarquis, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the two provinces house 237,000 internally displaced persons. While close to 54 percent of these individuals are living in foster families, thousands of others are finding refuge in schools, hospitals, churches and other improvised sites. More than 76,000 children have also had their schooling disrupted.

The violations of the 2013 accords are leading to hundreds of deaths, and blocking the numerous bids to restore a potential peace in the African Great Lakes Region.

This is the strained context in which Kinshasa welcomed Pope Francis for a Papal visit this year, in what is the largest Roman Catholic country in Africa. In his first address, the Pontiff delivered a political message, speaking out against those lurking in the shadows, stoking this conflict, as he says in this YouTube video:

(…) après le colonialisme politique, un “colonialisme économique” tout aussi asservissant s’est déchainé. Ce pays, largement pillé, ne parvient donc pas à profiter suffisamment de ses immenses ressources. Le poison de la cupidité a ensanglanté ses diamants. Mais ce pays et ce continent méritent d’être respectés et écoutés. Ils méritent de l’ espace et de l’ attention. Retirez vos mains de la RDC, retirez vos mains de l’Afrique! Cessez d’étouffer l’Afrique. Elle n’est pas une mine à exploiter, ni une terre à dévaliser (…)

(…) after political colonialism, an “economic colonialism,” just as shackling, was unleashed. This country, comprehensively plundered, is therefore unable to enjoy the benefits of its huge resources. The poison of avarice has stained its diamonds with blood. But this country and this continent deserve to be respected and listened to. They deserve space and attention. Hands off the Democratic Republic of Congo, hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa. Africa is not a mine to be stripped, or a terrain to be plundered(…)”

Indeed, the DRC is the second-greatest country in Africa, in terms of land mass, whose underground mineral wealth stokes the lustful appetites of industrialists worldwide.

Pope Francis's remarks were relayed by the criminologist and investigative journalist Steve Wembi on his Twitter account.

#RDC: « Mais ce pays et ce continent méritent d’être respectés et écoutés. Ils méritent espace et attention. Retirez vos mains de la RDC, retirez vos mains de l’Afrique! Cessez d’étouffer l’Afrique. Elle n’est pas une mine à exploiter, ni une terre à dévaliser (…)»Pape François pic.twitter.com/IvKFo0qIG6

— Steve Wembi (@wembi_steve) January 31, 2023

#DRC: “But this country and this continent deserve to be respected and listened to. They deserve space and attention. Hands off the Democratic Republic of Congo, hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa. Africa is not a mine to be stripped, or a terrain to be plundered(…)” Pope Francis

— Steve Wembi (@wembi_steve) January 31, 2023

Congolese have diverging opinions on the Pope's remarks

Congolese have been quick to respond via Twitter. Some are favourable to the position of Pope Francis and believe in his words. In the view of Mbuyi Elonga, a geopolitical scientist, researcher and political analyst, and a Master's student in Politics and International Relations at the University of Louvain, the Pope was openly referring to the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame. Moreover, Kagame is accused by President Félix Tshisekedi and a section of the Congolese population of supporting the rebels of M23.

Le Pape François s’adresse indirectement au dictateur @PaulKagame et je cite: «La RDC est le diamant de la création..
La violence et la haine sont des sentiments anti-chrétiens.. ». RDF/M23 arrêtez vos massacres au Congo🇨🇩 Retirez votre armée et milice terroriste M23 de la #RDC. pic.twitter.com/gSQ9hkkAzM

— Mbuyi ELONGA (Géopoliticienne) (@MbuyiItela_fmi) January 31, 2023

Pope Francis is indirectly addressing the dictator @PaulKagame, quote: “The DRC is the diamond of all creation..
Violence and hatred are anti-Christian sentiments..”. RDF/M23 stop your killings in Congo🇨🇩 Withdraw your army and terrorist militia M23 from the #DRC.

— Mbuyi ELONGA (Geopolitical Scientist) (@MbuyiItela_fmi) January 31, 2023

Others remain sceptical of the Pontiff's good intentions and would rather, instead of talking in parables, he cited names, as this contributor observes:

Je m'attendais à un discours limpide et non énigmatiqu ou encore philosophique. Je serais content si le pape avait cité le chat par son nom !

— Trésor Ngando (@TresorNgando) January 31, 2023

I expected a transparent speech, not an enigmatic or even a philsophical one. I'd be happier if the Pope had called a spade a spade!

— Trésor Ngando (@TresorNgando) January 31, 2023

Some like Nestor Mukendi, a lawyer with the Bar Association of La Gombe, Kinshasa, go further, describing the Pope's remarks as language used by “sovereigntist” politicians who hoodwink the people to hide hands which are choking and plundering the continent.

A qui s’adressent-ils? Un discours exenophobe utilisé par les politiciens ”souverainistes” pour masquer leurs mains qui etouffent et pillent le Continent, en l’espèce les Kivus mis en coupe reglée depuis 20 ans par les maï-maï, FDLR et officiers FARDC, et les politiciens locaux

— nestor mukendi (@nestormukendi) January 31, 2023

Who are they addressing? A xenophobic discourse used by “sovereigntist” politicians who hoodwink the people to hide hands which are choking and plundering the Continent, more particularly the Kivus, bled repeatedly for the last 20 years by the Mai-Mai, FDLR and FARDC officers, and local politicians

— nestor mukendi (@nestormukendi) January 31, 2023

What about the shapers of the country's socio-political life?

Interviewed by Radio Okapi, a Congolese station, certain shapers of the country's socio-political life seem to hold out hope and think the Papal visit will bring positive changes in the DRC, to judge by their pronouncements on air.  Claude Bafwafwa, a lawyer with the Bar Association of La Gombe, Kinshasa, welcomed the Pontiff's plea for the DRC to stop suffering because of its neighbours.

Le pape a comparé la RDC au diamant. Quand le soleil tape sur le diamant, ça doit briller et ça brille pour tout le monde. Il a invité le gouvernement à être près des pauvres.

The Pope compared the DRC to a diamond. When the sun strikes the diamond, it has to and does shine for everyone. He invited the Government stand beside the poor.

Julienne Lusenge, President of the Sofepadi NGO, hails the fact that the Pope calls out the killings carried out in the East of the DRC as “a forgotten genocide.” In her view, the international community should stop Kigali from continuing to harass the DRC.

La communauté ne peut pas oublier que c’est elle qui a demandé au Congo d’ouvrir la voie pour que les Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) que cherche Kagame puisse venir chez nous. On n’a qu’à lui dire de dialoguer avec eux là-bas pour faire la paix. Comme ça, ils ne seront plus au Congo et ne seront plus une menace.

The community cannot forget it was the one who asked Congo to open the way so the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) who Kagame has in his sights could come here. He just needs to be told to open a dialogue with them over there to bring peace. That way, they will no longer be in Congo and will no longer be a threat.

For his part, the Minister for Industry and Honorary Governor of North-Kivu, a mineral-rich region in which the group M23 is based, Julien Paluku, on Radio Okapi, asked Pope Francis to appeal to all those spreading death and destruction in the East of the country.

Que sa sainteté, le pape interpelle tous ceux-là qui sèment la désolation et la mort en RDC de cesser. La voix du peuple congolais va jusqu’au Vatican, canal par lequel le message de souffrance sera entendue à travers le monde.

Let his Holiness the Pope appeal to all those spreading destruction and death in the RDC to stop. The voice of the Congolese people goes all the way to the Vatican, a channel through which the message of suffering will be heard across the world.

So it seems that even if the Pope has denounced violence in general, he has disappointed some Congolese by remaining on purely diplomatic terrain.