AFRICA

KASKA, CONGO—Three Daughters of the Resuffection, a priest, Fr Stanislas Bwabulakombe, a seminarian and 32 members of the parish in Kasika, including five lay Church workers, were killed here on August 24. the day after the Pope appealed for peace between President Kabila and rebel Rwandan forces.
The murders have been seen as a reprisal. On the same day in Kasika, in the Diocese of Uvira — in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire — rebel forces suffered great losses against the anti-Tutsi MayMay movement. The Pope condemned the violence. "Let us pray to the Lord that these are the last victims of a war that has continued to strike the Congolese population cruelly," he said.
Bakavu is calm, but shots are being heard in the surrounding area and it is very difficult to cross the border with Rwanda. Archbishop Kataliko has asked those missionaries currently on homeleave in Europe to postpone their return. Some 500 Italian missionaries live in the Congo. — (Aid to the Church in Need, CNS)
KHARTOUM—Sudanese Christians held an ecumenical prayer service for the release of two Catholic priests arrested by the Islamic government for alleged involvement in bomb attacks in June.
Speaking at the service, Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok of Khartoum said that Sudanese Christians only have their faith to fight injustice. He said that Christians must never use violence to solve their problems. Fr Hilary Boma, chancellor for the archdiocese, was arrested on August 1 and Fr Lino Sebit, a parish priest, turned himself in on July 29 after an arrest warrant was issued.
Bishop Adwok said a confession by the priests of involvement in the bomb plots was extracted by force . (CWN)