Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
The 2006 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo upholds the secular character of the State and proclaims respect for religious pluralism. The constitution forbids all forms of discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin, religion, or opinion (Article 13), and it states that all persons in the country have the right to freely manifest their religion in public and in private (Article 22). There is freedom to build churches and raise funds for religious activities from both inside and outside the country. All religious groups have the freedom to engage in proselytism, including teaching children about religion. Some preachers do so in markets, street junctions, and on public buses.
Religion is taught in school and is part of the official curriculum. The constitution states that “national education establishments shall assure, in cooperation with the religious authorities, to their minor pupils, and having parents demanding it, an education conforming to their religious convictions.”
In 1977, the government of the then Republic of Zaire (former country name) signed the Schools Convention with the Catholic, Protestant, Kimbanguist, and Islamic communities. In 2016 the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a framework agreement with the Holy See regarding matters of common interest, including “the institutions of Catholic education, the teaching of religion in schools, the welfare and charitable activities of the Church, pastoral care in the armed forces and prison and hospital institutions, as well as property tax, the obtaining of entry visas and residence permits for religious personnel.”
A number of religious groups run a wide range of institutions, such as schools, health centres, orphanages, and media outlets. Most TV channels and radio stations in Kinshasa belong to different Christian communities.
Although the state is secular, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) and the Ecumenical Council of Congo (COE) play a significant role in political affairs, paying attention to social, educational, and economic areas.
Additionally, in Article 74, God is mentioned and the elected President must “swear before God and the Nation” in the oath of office.
Incidents and development
During the reported period, the eastern regions of DR Congo continue to suffer from terrorism, including kidnappings, atrocities and killings, and mass displacement particularly concentrated in the region of Beni. Although Congo's eastern borderlands are home to more than 100 different militias, repeated and egregious attacks against religious leaders and civilians persist from the Muslim rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). The ADF armed group, with combatants primarily from Uganda and DR Congo, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2019, an Islamist extremist group with an expansionist agenda. The US State Department “designated the group as an IS affiliate and Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 2021”. The impact on the civilian population has been catastrophic. According to UN peacekeeping forces (MONUSCO) records, “the ADF killed over 1,300 civilians in 2021, nearly 50% more than in 2020”. The UN has assessed the following “crimes against humanity and war crimes to the ADF, including civilian killings, abductions, and use of child soldiers”.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “North Kivu has 1.8 million internally displaced people and Ituri has 1.7 million, including a disproportionately high number of women and children. Over five million people are displaced across Congo, one of the largest internally displaced populations in Africa.”
There were multiple attacks on military and civilians during the period under review (many attributed to ADF though the militant group rarely publicizes attacks); the list of incidents is thus only representative:
On 5 January 2021, at least 22 civilians were killed in an overnight raid by alleged ADF extremists on a village in eastern DR Congo. A further 17 were hacked to death in a nearby village the week prior.
On 14 January, 46 civilians were killed in an attack by suspected ADF militants on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a senior provincial official said Thursday.
On 7 February, at least 12 farmers from Mabule village were killed overnight in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by suspected fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
On 9 February, ten people were killed with knives in an attack attributed to ADF in Kithovirwa, a near Mwenda.
On 15 February, suspected ADF Islamists killed three soldiers and 13 civilians and burnt down a Catholic church.
On 16 February, at least 10 people in eastern DR Congo were killed by reported members of the ADF militia. The UNHCR, stated that “more than 2,000 civilians were killed in North and South Kivu and Ituri province” in 2020.
On 24 March, eight people were killed during an attack by armed men identified as ADF rebels in the village of Aveyi, about 15 km from Oicha, the capital of Beni territory. Twenty civilians were also taken hostage.
On 30-31 March, twenty-nine civilians were killed, and fifty others abducted during attacks attributed to ADF combatants in the villages of Moliso, Beu-Manyama and Musangwa in Beni territory in North Kivu.
On 7 April, the Catholic bishops, following a January fact-finding trip to North Kivu and Ituri by a joint delegation of the bishops’ conference and the Association of Ecclesiastical Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC), issued a communiqué appealing to the country’s leaders to reorient their political, military, and humanitarian strategy. Amid the issues identified, the bishops also referred to the religious aspect of the conflict in the Beni-Butembo area (North Kivu province), highlighting “the Islamization of the region as a sort of deeper strategy for a long-term negative influence on the general political situation of the country”. The bishops cited testimony from prisoners who had escaped the ADF Islamist militia who confirmed “that they had been compelled to ‘convert’ to Islam.”
On 30 April 2021, President Félix Tshisekedi declared a state of siege in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces. Hours after the declaration, armed militants killed 19 in attacks on two villages in the eastern provinces.
On 1 May, the President of the Congo Islamic Community (COMICO), Sheik Ali Amini, was shot and killed by an unidentified armed group while worshiping at the principal mosque in Beni. The cleric was known for his criticism of Islamic militancy. Although no group claimed responsibility, suspicions have focused on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). The Sheik’s killing during the month of Ramadan shocked the city of Beni. Some weeks later, following evening prayers, another Muslim leader was killed. Sheikh Djamali Moussa was assassinated by an unidentified commando in Mavivi as he returned to his home from the mosque. Sheikh Moussa was a representative of civil society in Mavivi and the two imams were known “for their regular alerts on the movement of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) fighters in the region”.
On 6 May, in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Paluku Sikuli Melchisédech of the diocese of Butembo-Beni, denounced the ineffective response by the government and the UN forces to the ongoing terrorism in the eastern part of the country stating, “terrorists are expelling the indigenous populations from their homes, while criminals are trafficking in the exploitation of Congo’s mineral resources, completely undisturbed”. The bishop noted, “there is a grand scheme to Islamise or expel the local populations.” In clarification, he explained: “All those who have been kidnapped by these terrorist groups and who have escaped alive from them report the same thing. They were given the choice between death and conversion to Islam. They are given Muslim names to cement their identity.” Finally, the bishop drew attention to the financial interests in the region and role of Rwanda stating: “It is plain to see that Islamisation is not their sole motivation! This region abounds with natural resources, and they are being exploited completely illegally. How else can you explain those coltan refineries that are operating in Rwanda, when the country has none of this resource? Instead, this rare mineral is extracted here in our region and exported quite illegally across the other side of the frontier. And I see no sign of the Congolese government being concerned.”
On 13 May, the month of Ramadan was marred by violence as rival Muslim groups fought over issues concerning leadership succession within the Muslim community and the right to celebrate the Eid festivities at a sports stadium. The Congolese National Police sought to control the situation with tear gas and firing rounds into the air to disperse the rioters. According to officials, “one policewoman was in critical condition and 46 others were injured” including an 81-year-old woman. Subsequently thirty people were sentenced to death.
On 16 May, 21 people were killed by the ADF in five villages in the Babila Babombi chiefdom. A further 52 others were taken hostage.
On 30 May, local officials blamed the ADF militant group for the death of at least 50 people in two overnight attacks the country’s troubled eastern region.
On Sunday 27 June, a bomb exploded near a Catholic church in the city of Beni in North Kivu causing injuries and panic among the population.
On 12 July, the bodies of eighteen civilians among which were three women and two children, were discovered by Red Cross members in several villages in the chiefdom of Walese Vonkutu in the Irumu territory. Most of the victims were decapitated. The victims were reportedly killed by ADF rebels, active in the region.
According to 2021 estimations, there were at least 7,500 kidnapped people in the region. A Catholic nun, Sister Francine, was abducted in Goma on 8 July and released a week later. The Congolese Bishops’ Conference, already in April, had released a statement urging government leaders to take action to the trend.
Many churches have become targets of vandalism. Between April and July 2021, almost 10 churches suffered attacks and destruction, especially in the region of Kasai. Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde stated: “The government of the republic strongly condemns the acts of desecration, violence and vandalism that have been observed in Kinshasa and Mbuji Mayi against the Catholic Church. Vandalism and violence have no place in the Congo today”.
On 1 August, a group of youths vandalised the home of Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo in Kinshasa, and further vandalised the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Kinshasa.
On 2 August, suspected ADF militants kidnapped and bound 14 people who were cutting wood near the village of Idohu, Ituri. The fighters executed the civilians, their bodies “laid in a line across the road”.
On 4 August, the Catholic bishops of Congo called for an end to attacks targeting “parishes, Marian grottoes, altars and sanctuaries” in the Mbujimayi Diocese. The conference “strongly condemns these inadmissible acts of violence, which are a serious attack on freedom of religion and expression, but also a violation of democracy”.
On 22 August, unidentified individuals plundered the Catholic Church of Saint Paul in Kamende; a bible was burned, and numerous items were stolen.
On 27 August, according to the UN, suspected ADF fighters killed at least 19 civilians and abducted several others in Kalunguta, Beni territory.
On 6 September, suspected ADF militants “armed with machetes, sticks and clubs killed at least 30 villagers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo”.
On 21 October, suspected ADF militants attacked several villages from Kalembo, killing at least 16 civilians in three villages.
On 23 October, the pastor of a Baptist church and a Catholic leader were kidnapped by unidentified individuals in Kisharu’s Mwanzi neighborhood.
On 21 November, an armed group attacked an IDP camp in Drodro killing 44 and destroying over 1,200 shelters.
On 30 November, 26 people were killed by an armed group at the Ndjala IDP camp in Ituri province. According to UNHCR spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov, “ten women and nine children were among the dead and 11 people were wounded. The attackers used guns, machetes and knives”.
Between 10-11 November, ADF carried out a raid on the village of Ndalya, killing one person, injuring two more, and setting fire to 24 homes.
In early 2021, the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group, largely of the Tutsi ethnic group, frustrated by “the government’s failure to uphold agreements about the rehabilitation of former rebels”, restarted attacks against military and civilian targets in eastern DR Congo. On 4 November, President Felix Tshisekedi called on young people to form "vigilance groups" to respond to the M23 rebel activity.
On 25 December 2021, a bomb exploded on Christmas day in Beni city killing at least six.
On 15 January 2022, a militia called the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO), and the Patriotic and Integrationist Force of the Congo (FPIC) attacked a Catholic Charismatic Renewal group in Kokonyangi. At least 11 people were killed.
On 24 January, three relief workers from the Christian NGO, Tearfund, were kidnapped in Malinde.
On 2 February, an unidentified armed group killed Fr Richard Masivi in a Catholic church in the village of Vusesa.
On 2 February, the CODECO militia killed at least 60 IDP’s in an attack on the Plaine Savo shelter in Djugu, eastern Ituri province, using machetes and other weapons.
On May 31, Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack (believed to have been conducted by members of ADF which pledged alliance to Islamic State in 2019), in which nearly 20 Christians were killed. The militants reportedly stormed the village of Bulongo in North Kivu province after dark, “pillaging homes, murdering inhabitants that crossed their path and setting fire to six vehicles”.
On 22 June, more than 10 Christians were killed near the village of Makisabo, Beni, when the Islamist extremist group ADF ambushed three vehicles. According to reports, the militants “blocked the road, shot all the passengers, and set the vehicles on fire”. A local bishop stated: “We know the war situation in Congo is complex, but we cannot ignore the fact that the rebel groups are targeting Christians. We have evidence that the killers have established ties with [the] Islamic State (ISIS), and survivors have confessed to us that they were asked to recite the shahada if they wanted to survive. We have pastors that have been killed for refusing to deny Christ and get Islamized. We are asking for prayers and support to take care of millions of refugees, widows, and orphans.”
From 2-5 July, Pope Francis was scheduled to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, on 13 June, the pontiff was forced to postpone his Apostolic Journey due to knee problems. The Pope said: “We ask everyone to remain hopeful, despite the inconvenience caused by the postponement of the papal visit, and to remain patient and persevere in prayer.”
On 25 June, Monsignor Donatien Nshole, Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference of the Congo (CENCO), announced in a press conference that, “to show the great consideration he has for our country, the Holy Father has decided to send His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of Vatican City, to Kinshasa to pray with us on Sunday 3 July 2022”. Furthermore, in the conference, Monsignor Nshole reassured that Cardinal Pietro Parolin's trip to the DRC would not replace Pope Francis’ trip to DRC: “[it has] only been postponed and for which new dates are expected.”
On 2 July, Cardenal Pietro Parolin and representatives from CENCO met with the Congolese Prime Minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, and other state officials, to sign agreements that define the Church’s legal status in areas such as health, finance, pastoral care, and social commitment. The accord, known as the Marco agreement, recognized the Church’s unique nature, which was up to then recognised by the State as a non-profit organization. Although the accord had been approved in 2019 and went into effect in 2020, it had never been fully implemented.
On 23 July, suspected ADF extremists killed Rev. Joel Tibasima Bamaraki and two Church elders in an attack in Kabasungora village in the Bahema-Boga locality. On 24 July, the same group was suspected of killing at least seven Christians and setting two churches on fire in Kayera village, Bahema-Mitego locality. Local Church leaders Rev. Besisa Birahure stated: “Now it is worse because it is targeting the church leaders. We are overwhelmed. What can we do? Because of this massacre in which we are, which is one too many and we don’t know what to do… So keep praying for us; whatever difficulties become harder and harder, may God sustain us to stand firm.”
Following a 25 July attack in which at least 15 (three UN peacekeepers and 12 demonstrators) were killed on UN bases in Goma and other northern cities, tensions between the local community and the UN Blue Helmets of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) continued to mount. Protesters blamed MONUSCO for failing to prevent the turmoil brought on by armed groups in eastern DRC. The Bishop of Butembo-Beni, Melchisédech Sikuli Paluku, commented on the situation: “When the glass is full, it would not be surprising if one day we saw the whole city rebel, including the most unsuspected people.”
On 4 August, a UN report revealed that it had evidence that Rwandan troops had been providing military support and fighting with the M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and providing it with weapons and support. “The M23's resurgence has inflamed regional tensions and spurred deadly protests against the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, which civilians accuse of failing to protect them.”
On 9 August, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kinshasa as part of a three-nation tour of Africa. The visit was used to reinforce the past, current, and future relationships between the U.S. and the DRC and to consider how the two nations can work together more effectively to advance causes such as environmental protection and human rights. Matters pertaining to religious freedom were also discussed.
On 19 October, Sr Marie-Sylvie Kavuke Vakatsuraki of the Little Sisters of the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple, was killed in an attack claimed by ADF forces. Fr Marcelo Oliveira, head of the Comboni Missionaries, stated: “The ADF rebels attacked the village, and more precisely the hospital. They looted everything they could find, taking medicines, and at the end they set fire to the building. A nun, who is also a doctor and was on night duty, was burned alive, along with a patient.”
On 20 October, the M23 launched an offensive against the Congolese army in Rutshuru spreading panic in North Kivu. The United Nations calculated that more than 50,000 people fled their homes between 20 October and 1 November. On 31 October, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate halt to the fighting and the retreat of M23 from occupied areas. DR Congo President Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of supporting the rebellion, stating Rwanda, in search of DRC mineral wealth, sought to “destabilise eastern Congo to create a lawless zone to satisfy its criminal appetites”. Rwanda denied the allegations. On 31 December, the European Union called on Rwanda “to stop supporting the M23 rebel group”.
On 26 October, Pope Francis, following a terror attack killing patients and a staff member at a Catholic mission hospital, “decried the ‘horror’ continuing to ‘bloody’ the Democratic Republic of Congo”. At his General Audience, the pontiff stated: “Let us pray for the victims and their families, as well as for the Christian community and the inhabitants of that region, who have been exhausted by violence for too long.”
In November, following an extraordinary meeting of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, 42 of the country’s archbishops, bishops, and apostolic administrators signed a statement in which they warned of a possible breakup of the country. As evidence, the prelates singled out the multiple regions where violence had flared up; the reawakening of militant groups such as the M23; the intercommunal violence and deaths over land in the west of the country pitting the Teke ethnic group against the non-Teke and; the illegal sale of land to foreigners in Central Congo, all which have led to the forced displacement of thousands of people. The Church leaders warned that the growing insecurity risked dividing the country, stating: “The hour is grave. Our country is in danger, if we are not careful, we are going to wake up one morning with a country which has been Balkanised”. The bishops also pointed to the responsibility of the international community, including multinational companies making alliances with those who have developed a form of “military profiteering”, stating: “The international community which in its duplicity blows hot and cold, carries a grave responsibility for its indulgence towards the multinationals and the countries which are predators of our natural resources. What sort of peacekeeping are we talking about when the number of deaths never ceases to multiply?”
On 1 December, DR Congo armed forces accused the M23 rebel group “of killing 50 civilians in the eastern town of Kishishe”. The UN peacekeeping mission stated: “These allegations, if confirmed, could constitute crimes under international humanitarian law”.
On 4 December, “tens of thousands of Christians took to the streets across the Democratic Republic of Congo” following a call from the Catholic Conference of Bishops protesting the M23 violence in the eastern regions. The Church leaders also accused the international community of “hypocrisy over Rwanda’s alleged role in the fighting”.
Prospects for freedom of religion
The Democratic Republic of Congo, four times the size of France, has enormous mineral wealth including gold, diamonds, cobalt and coltan. Despite this, large segments of the population are destitute. Although previously insecurity was concentrated in the north, violence has spread across the country and today several regions in DR Congo are scenes of armed conflicts involving an ever-broadening constellation of rebel groups including Islamist terrorist militias. The number of armed groups has grown from a few dozen in 2006 – the year the UN force was deployed – to approximately 120 today, and extremists are targeting places of worship more frequently.
The situation is complex involving political, economic, ethnic, and religious elements including terrorism to a level constituting crimes under international humanitarian law. Most controversial is the 4 August 2022 UN allegation of Rwandan complicity with the M23 rebel group.
The Catholic Church has been an outspoken critic, vocal in her call for change at both the national and international levels. In an April 2021 communiqué, the bishops highlighted the goals of the aggressors, stating they are “exploiting the weaknesses of the regular armed forces in order to achieve their political and religious goals”, which include “the occupation of the land, illegal exploitation of natural resources, gratuitous self-enrichment and the Islamization of the region without regard for religious freedom”.
Prospects for religious freedom remain negative.
Democratic Republic of the Congo