Zairian church in thick of conflict

Christian Century, May 7, 1997

When the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (ADFL) took over MbujiMayi, it was a Presbyterian minister locals asked to talk to the approaching rebels. In a stunning six-month onslaught, the insurgents have gained control of southern and eastern Zaire and sent government forces fleeing, pillaging towns as they retreat. MbujiMayi, near the center of the country, is the commercial hub for Zaire's nearly $20 million monthly diamond trade. It is also one of the major centers of Presbyterian ministry in Zaire's East Kasai region.

"When [ADFL Commander Laurent] Kabila's troops came, we were there with the people of the city," Mbaya Tshiakanyi, a leader of the Presbyterian Community of Zaire (PCZ), told Presbyterian News Service. Tshiakanyi reported that he greeted the troops by saying: "OK, we welcome you. We hope you bring to us true liberation.... [We hope] that you bring to us respect ... for human beings, for life. All the values we preach of in the church."

But the hope Tshiakanyi is voicing is tinged with the kind of pragmatism borne of having watched "liberation" go bad before. And while the PCZ is clear about what it is being "liberated" from, since it has publicly criticized the 31-year military government of billionaire President Mobutu Sese Seko as corrupt and guilty of gross human rights violations, it is waiting to see what will happen next. According to Tshiakanyi, "People here are happy, walking around during the day ... feeling relieved of something which was very dangerous--the soldiers of Mobutu." But the church leader added, "Even if this is liberation, it is a military liberation. The question now is tomorrow. You never know the way a military will rule a country. This is the main question."

The hard task for the church in the midst of such turmoil, Zaire onlookers contend, is to avoid currying favor with the victors as a way of ensuring institutional survival. "The church will have to run the risk of standing between the ADFL and whatever [political] power is left. That's fearsome and frightening, but necessary," according to Zairian church historian Philippe Kabongo-Mbaya, who grew up in East Kasai and who now writes and teaches in Paris. "That's a high risk.... If the church is faithful to the gospel message, it may find itself between an anvil and a hammer--two political forces coming together."

Credibility problems already exist for Protestant churches in Zaire, since the country's ecumenical council, the Church of Christ of Zaire, is widely perceived to be Mobutu-controlled. However, not all of its member communions are regarded with equal suspicion. The Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and Mennonites all said no to Mobutu's 1989 attempt to hand-pick and appoint for life the leaders of all Zaire's denominations. "Of all the Protestants, the Presbyterians have been the most critical of Mobutu," said PCUSA East/West Africa liaison and former mission worker in Zaire Hunter Farrell, who noted that three PCZ General Assemblies issued resolutions condemning Mobutu's human rights abuses and corrupt government. "Talk of democracy hadn't even started at that time," he said, referring to the first 1989 resolution. "And public criticism of Mobutu in Zaire was taboo. So when a church body in Zaire did that ... that was just massive." Stressing that people have disappeared there for less, Farrell said the assembly took its action with no small amount of anxiety.

Tshiakanyi reports that Presbyterian and Catholic parishes are now receiving women and children who are among the 2,800 Rwandan and Burundian refugees who have walked the 480 miles from Zaire's border. The men are in camps outside the city. Worship and pastoral care are ongoing--or, as he said--"Everything in the church is going on. And we bless God." Tshiakanyi added that even the secular community is turning to church leaders for advice and for support. "Everybody is coming to me as the legal representative of the church, asking what to do. The church is, to some extent, the only institution in power and having a message to give to the society."