Slaying of Congolese Aid Worker Prompts Condemnation
Caritas Internationalis is condemning the growing climate of insecurity in eastern Congo following the killing of a staff member who worked for Caritas France.
"Ricky Sukaka bravely worked in a war zone to help others rebuild their lives," remarked Lesley-Anne Knight, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, in a statement Tuesday announcing of the recent death of the aid worker. "The brutality and killing in Congo has got to stop. Caritas calls on all the groups involved to sit down at the negotiating table and work for a lasting peace."
Last Wednesday, 27-year-old Ricky Agusa Sukaka was shot dead in Musezero, North Kivu, on the way home from work. When his colleagues found the Congolese national, his pockets had been emptied and his Secours Catholique-Caritas France T-shirt removed.
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Villagers reported seeing Sukaka stopped by two men wearing Congolese army uniforms before he was killed.
Caritas France said it intends to closely follow the inquiry into the killing to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.
Caritas Internationalis, meanwhile, is continuing to provide the basic needs of 400,000 people caught in escalating conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the confederation of 164 Catholic aid agencies, conditions have sharply worsened for over one million people because of an increase in fighting between foreign militias and the government's army.
Armed groups frequently inflict killings, rapes, looting and violence on a population which remains largely without protection.
Women and children are particularly vulnerable, with rape attacks against women and young girls having risen sharply. Around 14.8 percent of children never live to see their fifth birthday.
"A great number of people in Congo are in terrible need. They've been forced from their homes, their possessions looted or burned, and they have no food, healthcare or schooling," reported Caritas Congo Director Dr. Bruno Miteyo.
Caritas is calling for urgent humanitarian intervention in Congo by the international community. The coalition is also urging the Government of Congo to provide protection to the people and to make every effort to build peace.
It says the humanitarian community, like the Congolese population, is paying the high price of the increased activity of rebel groups and the army in the region.
