Archbishop protests Bethany arrests

The Archbishop of Kinshasa has claimed that the people of Rwandan or Tutsi background seized from the Bethany centre in Kinshasa on 12 January were there at the request of the government and were awaiting “repatriation”. He has protested the raid on a church centre in which over 30 people were seized and taken to the Kokolo military camp by DRC soldiers. Archbishop Frederic Cardinal Etsou Nzabi Bamungwabi, in a 14 January statement, expressed his “deep indignation” and demanded the return of looted money and goods as well as the repair of broken doors and windows. Amnesty International reports that some of those arrested were shown on television on 17 January. The commander of the 50th brigade, named the unit responsible, in a statement carried by the daily ‘Le Palmares’ on 20 January, denied all the Archbishop’s allegations of theft or looting. The statement instead claimed “a good portion of the Catholic clergy” are being manipulated by external forces in order to “destabilise national institutions.”