The National Episcopal Conference of the Congo (CENCO) does not have any problem so that the American sanctions taken against the members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) are lifted. Fr Donatien Nshole spoke of two motivations for their advocacy, namely: the humanitarian situation and the evolution of the country’s situation.

« We say, if there are people who are no longer dangerous for the situation of the country (because the concern for these sanctions was that of contributing to a good evolution of the situation of the country), with the current evolution of the situation, I do not see why we should not remove the sanctions. But if people continue to play a harmful role, it is up to each institution to assess the situation in relation to that, « said Abbé Nshole answering journalists’ questions on June 24, 2019.

For this Catholic prelate, it would be curious that the taking of these sanctions is motivated by electoral disputes since the authorities that sanctioned had recognized the results proclaimed by the same CENI. Moreover, he believes, the imposition of sanctions should precede a kind of warning to individuals subject to sanctions.

Father Nshole to clarify: « Has this been done? It would be a shame if people only discover sanctions in the media without being listened to in either way. That’s a personal comment. « 

#Urgent #RDC Ce que pense la @CENCO__RDC des sanctions américaines contre les membres de la @cenirdc | via @Zoom_eco pic.twitter.com/Xp6BDiHVoz

— Zoom Eco (@Zoom_eco) June 24, 2019

To the question of whether CENCO could advocate for the lifting of these sanctions, Secretary-General Nshole was reassuring:

« I know for example that one of the sanctioned people has a family in the United States who are American. Prevent a dad from accessing his family for how long? We can advocate on the humanitarian front and also as the situation evolves. We do not see any inconvenience for pastors to work in this direction, perhaps it is already done.  »

As pastors, bishops say they fight sin, not the sinner. For the scriptures forbid wanting the death of the sinner but his conversion.

Eco Zoom