DR Congo: Police kill 14 autonomy demonstrators in Bas-Congo Province
Source/Publisher: IRIN | Date: Friday, 26 July 2002

Police in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday shot dead 14 demonstrators demanding autonomy for Bas-Congo Province, in southwestern DRC, media sources and a civil society group reported.

"There were 10 deaths in Luozi, four in Moanda, and numerous wounded across the region," Albert Ntula Di Mbewa, editor of a Bas-Congo newspaper, La cite africaine, told IRIN.

Witnesses reported that the police opened fire on crowds in Bas-Congo. The protests were called by adherents of a nationalist politico-religious group called Bundu dia Kongo - Kingdom of Kongo.

"We, the Bakongo, protested to express our anger, because all the government and military leadership positions in the region are filled by people from outside the region," said Diomi Ndongala, leader of the Front pour la survie de la democratie (Front for the Survival of Democracy) political party. "Even financial receipts earned in the province are transferred to [the DRC capital] Kinshasa for use by the central government, and only an insignificant amount is returned to the region," he added.

Bundu dia Kongo adherents have protested in the past against the late DRC leader, Mobutu Sese Seko, and his successor, Laurent-Desire Kabila. The protests have occasionally ended in the deaths of the group's adherents, who have themselves sometimes been armed.

Bundu dia Kongo demands that its adherents renounce western and eastern religions, and has sometimes pushed them into committing acts of violence. It seeks the restoration of the ancient Kongo kingdom within its pre-colonial boundaries, which encompassed parts of today's Angola, the Republic of Congo and Gabon. The centre of the kingdom was located in Bas-Congo Province and in neighbouring Bandundu Province of modern-day DRC.

Meanwhile, provincial authorities suspect Bundu dia Kongo of having set fire to the public prosecutor's office during the night of 7-8 July, completely destroying the building. "We believe that it was a premeditated action, because the group was seen handing out pamphlets before the incident," a local administrator said, requesting anonymity. An inquiry is under way to find those responsible for the arson.

Also, a court case is in progress against the Bundu dia Kongo leader, Bernard Mizele Nsemi, who is accused of undermining security, having allegedly initiated an operation ending in the deaths of several of his followers and police officers.

By Tata Nsasi Masongo Quimbisa (Admin) on Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 01:52 pm: Edit

This religious group has always been controversial because at times it appears to be more a political movement than a religion. The perspective in the US tends to make any religion expressing political goals suspect. However, this movement has to be seen in the perspective of the Bakongo people. Religion has been central to political and social structure for as long as there has been a record of Kongo culture.

The Kingdom of Kongo when independent used religion as a vehicle of politics, and indeed religious and political leadership was often indistinguishable. This was not, as in the west, because political leaders chose to use religion (or that religious leaders sought political power) but because the goal of religious activity among the Kongo people was the maintainance of social (ie political) stability.

In the contemporary context, it is important to realize a couple of facts. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a state with many different ethnic groups within its borders. The Bundu dia Kongo object to the fact that most of Kabila's leaders in the Kongo are not Kongolese, but from other ethnic groups from far away in the DRC. Secondly, it is also worth noting what the UN commission dealing with civil rights has to say about the situation currently in the Congo. The following statement from the UN document A/ 55/ 403
Distr.: General 20 September 2000 (English
Original: Spanish) [ cf: http://www.hri.ca/fortherecord2000/documentation/genassembly/a-55-403.htm ] indicates the problems.

Freedom of conscience and religion

75. The Special Rapporteur is dealing with this topic for the first time. The Government regards religious congregations as enemies who are allied with rebellion or aggression. Peace messages are viewed with suspicion, and the proclamation of freedom and justice are considered subversive. Presbyterian churches, the Ubangi-Mongola Evangelical Community, the Bundu dia Kongo sect, the Siani and Unification/ Cabinda, together with German, Austrian and Belgian priests and a Catholic bishop, have been repressed.

The issues are complex as are the motivations. However, BDK can be seen as a current example of the same sort of poltico-religious movement that Ndona Beatriz Kimpa Vita (the congolese "Joan of Arc") led centuries ago. Anyone involved in any Congo-derived religion should be aware of these events. Deciding where one stands on these matters is a separate question.