6 February 2025
From left: Adam Matthews (from the Church of England), Favour Ange (war survivor and activist), Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Mike Mpanya (youth activist) and Terrence Lester (St George Cathedral’s Dean). Photo: Kimberly Mutandiro
“As conflict continues to rage in Goma, the lives of innocent people, especially women and children, are at stake,” said war survivor and women’s rights activist Favor Ange Rohi. She was speaking at a launch of the #GomaCallForPeace campaign at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Rohi lost her parents at the age of 12 in a bomb explosion in South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was raised by the church, fled later to Burundi, and then sought refuge in South Africa.
“I understand what people in Goma are currently going through. That’s why we are calling for peace to stop the people of Goma from experiencing more suffering,” she said.
Fourteen South African soldiers, members of peacekeeping missions, were recently killed in the conflict.
The campaign, organised by religious leaders and Congolese civil society groups, calls for an immediate end to the violence in Goma and the withdrawal of M23 rebel and Rwandan forces from the DRC. They also call for the restoration of water and electricity in the deepening humanitarian crisis, and for diplomacy between Kigali and Kinshasa.
“The world is focusing on political rhetoric, which is overshadowing the real issues that people in Goma are facing,” Mike Mpanya, a Congolese national and former secretary-general of the African Youth Organisation, told GroundUp. “The people of Goma want their voices to be heard and to tell the stories of the atrocities they are facing daily.”
Joining the launch virtually, Archbishop Martin Gordon of Goma called on the international community to intervene.
“We have just experienced ten days of hell in Goma. Why are we being ignored and why has the international community looked the other way?”
He said the bodies of more than 900 people had been recovered from the streets, almost 3,000 people have been injured and the numbers are rising.
The archbishop said hospitals are at full capacity, widespread looting is taking place, and people continue to live in fear.