The journey of Pope Francis to the Congo of Kinshasa and to South Sudan retraces two of the most profound trajectories of his pontificate, namely the migration crisisin all its facets, and the question of guerra and, conversely, of peace. Two leitmotifs that the African continent has been reliving every day for decades.
Africa “victim”
For this too, for Bergoglio, Africa is a victim. He said it in 2015, during his return trip from a visit to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, in whose capital, Bangui, he had opened the holy door of the Jubilee of Mercy. And Congo and South Sudan do not escape this definition, so much so that Pope Francis in 2018 called a day of prayer for both countries. Which this time, after five years, he manages to visit.
The journey started from the Congo, tested by ongoing tensions with Rwanda and unable to handle an impressive number of displaced people, fleeing the attacks of the guerrillas M23 group, Congolese rebels probably supported by Kigali. And arriving, then, in Sud Sudanwhich for the first time in its short life will welcome a pope, accompanied for the occasion by the primate of the Anglican Church Justin Welby and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, Ian Greenshields
The migration crisis between violence and climate
The Great Lakes area of Africa, a fundamental crossroads for migratory flows that depart and end within the same continent, has as its main pivot the Kivunorth eastern region of Congo and bordering Rwanda and Uganda. Here, the displaced are over five million and, week after week, thousands and thousands of people are forced to flee their homes due to repeated incursions by paramilitary groups.
A chaotic situation, which complicates not only the intervention of the government of Kinshasa, but also of humanitarian organizations. The latter, faced with the presence of hundreds of militias – about 140 according to the Kivu Security Tracker – operating almost undisturbed in the area, cannot contribute to the safety of the affected population.
In the apostolic nunciature of Kinshasa, after visiting the official residence of the head of state, Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, Francis will meet some of the victims of the violence that is rampant in the east of the country.
Among the root causes of the migration and refugee crisis, however, there is not only the circulation of armed groups, but also the climate. South Sudan, in the last four years, has been completely devastated by floods and torrential rains, which have affected almost a million people. Still others, in even greater numbers, have had to flee, bringing the problem of climate migrants back into the spotlight, on which Pope Francis also expressed himself in his encyclical Laudato Si’.
Rare earths and common wars
The other focus of Francesco’s journey is that of pace. As in Europe, the Ukrainian conflict does not seem destined for a resolution in the short term, too in Congo there has been low-intensity fighting for decades now.
In an explosive regional context, Kinshasa on one side and Kigali on the other exchange mutual accusations: while the former accuses Rwanda of having reactivated the Congolese rebel group of the Mouvement du 23 mars – i.e., M23 – and of financing its activities purpose of destabilizing the country, the Rwandan president Paul Kagame it does the same with Congo, blamed for supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, another insurgent movement.
A plot made even more inextricable by external influencesexercised not only by regional actors such as Uganda, but also by large countries – from France to Russia, from China to the United States – engaged in hoarding the abundant natural resources of the Congo, i.e. the so-called terre rare, cobalt and coltan. All high-tech elements widely used in thesuperconductor industryelectric energy vehicles and latest generation chips.
An overlap of economic interests, often predatory, which Francis himself, having arrived in Congo, immediately denounced. “Hands off the Congo“, said the pontiff, which “is not a mine to be exploited”, exactly like the rest of Africa.
After all, for Bergoglio, every conflict is one of the most evident consequences of the unfair system of the world economy, which accepts exploitation and pursues profit at any cost. Even of human life, often reduced to mere waste from the production process. But there is no greater value than those of peace and dialogue, before which every calculation must stop, be it purely economic or of power. A warning launched from the heart of Africa that reaches as far as Europe.
Cover photo ANSA/ VATICAN MEDIA