By Olivier Carion
For the second time in two weeks, I reached Mpinda Ndayi Kakwanga in Kinshasa, Congo, by phone from France today, Aug. 23.
Mr. Mpinda said the Congo faces problems on many fronts. (The government of Laurent Kabila is under attack from Tutsi rebels backed by troops from Uganda and Rwanda.)
Mr. Mpinda cannot contact brethren in Low Congo (Matadi, Boma, Muanda). We have no news of elder Raphael Benza Tsuka in Boma.
However, colleagues at Mr. Mpinda's workplace made contact with family in that region. News is that civilians are not being targeted by the rebels, only Kabila's soldiers.
The Tutsi rebels somehow managed to reach the Congo coast, at Muanda. Marc Mbatshi, one of our leaders, supervises thousands of workers at the Gulf Oil Co. plant in Muanda. The rebels took over the plant, and we heard that Mr. Mbatshi was safe at his home with his family.
Kabila's forces regained control of Matadi, where we have a congregation. Matadi residents were urged to go back to work, and the situation appears normal.
Rebel headquarters is in Goma at the other end of the country. We have no news of Jacques Muzalia and his family there.
Mr. Muzalia tried to reach me by phone several weeks ago. Unfortunately we are unable to contact him. The lake district in Eastern Congo appears controlled by rebels.
Elsewhere in the Congo where we have congregations, such as in Mbuji-Mayi (Kasai region), Lubumbashi and Kolwezi (Katanga region in the south), the situation seems calm.
In the neighboring country, also called Congo, we received news from Sindaye Cassien. Cassien and his friend Wenceslas are the two who walked thousands of miles across the former Zaire from Bukavu, and ended up in Brazzaville (May WN).
I was surprised to receive a phone call from them. Someone had given them the opportunity to do so free of charge. Both men are doing well and are doing their best to try and settle down in Brazzaville.
I received a letter from Wenceslas Kamwenubusa in Bujumbura, Burundi, dated Aug. 7. He writes: "In the night of July 15, armed bands terrorized us and stole our belongings in our home. I now only have two old pairs of trousers, two old shirts and a pair of old shoes.
"Money, clothes, a radio and even my glasses were stolen. I can no longer read my Bible. War is still raging, and we are told it will get worse. Please pray for us. I suffer from being alone.
"Our little group on the hill meets regularly without fail, the Wenceslas, Cyrille and Pamphile families. We have untold tribulations but we are hanging on.
"Leave your comfortable beds in Europe and in the United States, brave war, barriers and prejudice, come and see what God is placing in our hands, we the children of the WCG in Burundi."
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998