Christians comprise 95% of the population of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Holy Archdiocese of Kinshasa and Central Africa is under the jurisdiction of the His Beatitude Theodore II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa.
For more ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, see here.
“Over 70 Christians Killed in DRC in Two Weeks,” International Christian Concern, March 20, 2023:
03/20/2023 DRC (International Christian Concern) – In just two weeks, 72 Christians have been killed in Nord Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the Islamist rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
Mulinde Esemo, a key church leader in Butembo, DRC, confirmed that the past two weeks have been a period of “great anguish” for the body of Christ in Congo.
He said, “We are living in a very tense situation here in Eastern DRC, both in towns and in the villages. Scores of believers have been killed in cold blood by the ADF rebels. It is a massacre like one killing animals.”
These attacks are happening just two months after twenty-three people were killed in Makungwe on January 23, 2023. Unabated, the ADF militants have been on a killing spree as they push their agenda of the Islamization of the majority Christian Eastern side of the DRC.
Here is the two-week chronology of the attacks as reported by Mulinde Esemo, the leader of the Nord Kivu diocese.
On March 9, the ADF rebels attacked the Mukondi area and butchered thirty-six people.
On March 12, nineteen people were killed in Kirindera village, and houses were set on fire by the same group, the ADF.
Earlier this week, on March 14, seventeen Christians were killed in Mabuku, among them an Episcopal priest who was leading service when the attackers raided.
All these villages are about 20 km from Butembo town, which has led villagers to flee to save their lives. Defiling the Pope’s call for peace and respect for human dignity during his trip to the DRC a month ago, the ADF has left thousands of displaced and living in deplorable conditions with no one to help.
Mulinde Esemo continued,“Families that fled from all those villages are now living as refugees here in Butembo, despite the fact that the town and the suburbs are overpopulated. Women and children are the most affected since they are most vulnerable. You will occasionally hear them crying for the lack of food, as the men look for casual jobs to buy something for the families.”…
