DRC Bishop: Government's indifference to violence is a sign of weakness or complicity

A Bishop in the Democratic Republic of Congo is denouncing the failure of the government and a UN peacekeeping mission to halt attacks by Islamist insurgents that have left hundreds of people dead

In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Paluku Sikuli Melchisédech of Butembo-Beni, in the north-eastern part of the country, says the government’s inaction in the face of the crisis is either “weakness, or it is complicity.”

Attacks by armed groups, notably the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), have left hundreds of people dead and dozens more wounded, and displaced more than 40,000 people since January, according to the UN.