Kamwina Nsapu militiamen ransacked the major seminary of Malole in
Kananga, in Central Kasai in the Democratic Republic of Congo."The militias systematically broke the doors of the rooms and destroyed everything that was inside. They entered the teachers’ rooms and burned their luggage", said the rector of the seminary, Father Richard Kitenge to Radio Okapi.
After a clash that lasted an hour, the army managed to free the seminary from the militiamen.
The incident took place on Saturday, February 18, the day before Pope Francis launched his appeal, after the Angelus, for this Congolese province, for months shocked by the violence of the followers of the traditional late leader Kamwina Nsapu, killed in August by security forces.
In a statement sent to Agenzia Fides the Bishop of Luiza, His Exc. Mgr. Félicien Mwanama Galumbulula, had denounced "exceptional violence and unimaginable atrocities against the population" committed by Kamwina Nsapu militiamen in different places of his diocese in Central Kasai.
Even in the capital, Kinshasa, there was a serious act of vandalism against the Catholic Church.
On Sunday, February 19 a dozen unknown young people ransacked St. Dominic parish.
According to the testimony of the pastor, the group was organized with backpacks in order to carry and take away the objects they ransacked.
The Congolese government has condemned the assault on the parish.