Key points:
- The United Methodist Church ran awareness campaigns to prevent violence and hate speech leading up to the December 2023 elections.
- The church organized workshops and raised awareness through educational spots broadcast on local FM radio stations and text messages sent to thousands.
- The church also participated in election observation, with members among the 25,000 citizens deployed across the country.
- Bishop Gabriel Yemba Unda, Eastern Congo Episcopal Area, reaffirmed the church's duty to promote peace.
The United Methodist Church in Congo has been working to prevent and mitigate electoral risks and conflicts in the country.
Financial support from the United Methodist Committee on Relief enabled the Eastern Congo and Southern Congo episcopal areas to run awareness campaigns on conflict and violence before, during and after the country’s elections.
The church also has been involved in election observation and sent messages of peace to thousands of people in rural and urban areas.
After the election of the president of the republic, and the national, provincial and communal legislative elections on Dec. 20, 2023, the electoral process in Congo continues with the election of senators and governors for the 26 provinces across the country.
Jean Tshomba, coordinator of UMCOR’s disaster management office in eastern Congo, noted that the DRC has experienced structural fragility since its independence, and the situation worsens during the electoral process.
“State institutions and their representatives are facing contestation from the population, and the presence of armed groups in the east of the country testifies to persistent instability,” he said. “The last three electoral cycles have also been marked by episodes of violence, underlining the need to reinforce security during the current electoral process.”
Bishop Gabriel Yemba Unda, Eastern Congo Episcopal Area, said the church has a duty to work for peace.
“We don't want to have elections where there are quarrels, where there are divisions, where there is disorder, but we want elections to be peaceful, so that the best people win,” he said.
To prevent and mitigate conflict, the church conducted mass awareness campaigns through workshops, motor caravans and educational spots in the local media.
“The main objective was to contribute to the organization of peaceful elections in 2023 in the DRC by preventing violence and hate speech,” Tshomba said, adding that for the Eastern Episcopal Area, “the province of Maniema, particularly affected by illiteracy, was chosen to concentrate efforts. Actions took place in the city of Kindu, the territory of Kibombo and the territory of Kasongo (Samba).”
Abbé Bruno Kingombe, parochial vicar of the Catholic Church at Ngene Cathedral in Kasongo, praised the United Methodist initiative.
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“It's all about raising people's awareness so that the elections can take place in a climate of peace,” he said. “I was pleased because the essential message the church insisted on was tolerance.”
To ensure that the electoral process runs smoothly, Catholic and Protestant churches deployed an electoral observation mission of 25,000 citizens for the December elections. The initiative was coordinated by the Church of Christ in Congo and National Episcopal Conference of the Congo, a conference of the Catholic Church. The United Methodist Church is a member of the ecumenical Church of Christ in Congo.
According to Pastor Éric Nsenga, the effort provided real-time information on the progress of the polls.
The groups “observed the elections and provided systematic, accurate and timely information on the process on polling day” at three different times, Nsenga said. Observers used a standardized checklist to collect information on the quality of voting, counting and the announcement of results in polling stations in all provinces and towns.
Hervé Tshoso, representing the Church of Christ in Congo, said that the church's observation of the elections contributed to the credibility of the country's electoral process.
“The fact that the church is involved in observing the elections is a mark of confidence that should make the process more credible,” Tshoso said. “It has even had an impact on the fact that there have not been as many challenges to the results as in the past.”
Convinced of the importance of the United Methodist initiative, François Tambwe, president of the Société Civile Force-Vive Territoire de Kibombo, chose to continue the awareness-raising operations with other member structures.
“We’re going to continue relaying the awareness message so that the elections take place in peace and security,” he said.
Modeste Shabani bin Sueni, national deputy candidate in the Kasongo territory, reacted in the same way.
“I thank the organizer, The United Methodist Church, and especially the structure that came all the way here to help our people prevent conflict,” Sueni said.
Last year, the Connectional Table — a leadership body that coordinates the denomination’s mission and ministry — approved using $80,000 in World Service Contingency Funds to support a request by the four bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo to provide civic and voter education ahead of the 2023 elections. The agencies collaborating on the project were Church and Society, Global Ministries, Higher Education and Ministry as well as the commissions on Religion and Race and the Status and Role of Women.
In addition to workshops, motorized caravans and radio spots, the church used the UMConnect platform to raise awareness of electoral conflict prevention via text messaging, said Judith Osongo, director of The United Methodist Church's communications department in the Eastern Congo Episcopal Area. UMConnect is a program of United Methodist Communications, the communications agency of The United Methodist Church, which also includes UM News.
She said that thousands of SMS messages were shared via UMConnect, calling on people to promote tolerance and mutual respect during the electoral process. The use of UMConnect enables the church to reach a wide audience and spread its message of peace in rural and urban areas in the eastern part of the country.
“Peace is dear,” Bishop Unda said, “and we all have a duty to preserve it, to protect it. We can't kill each other just because there's been an election.”
Londe is a communicator and UM News Correspondent in DRC. Judith Osongo Yanga, Director of Communication in East Congo contributed to this story.
News media contact: Julie Dwyer, news editor, [email protected] or 615-742-5469. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free daily or weekly Digests
