Armed members of the Mai-Mai rebel movement stormed a Catholic church during Easter Sunday Mass in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after which one of the rebels was shot dead by soldiers.
Near the end of the first Mass of the morning on Easter, the armed militiamen burst into the Queen of Angels Church in the east of the city of Butembo, North Kivu, according to the parish priest, Father Hilaire Kamavu.
The rebels demanded the priest’s liturgical vestments and stole the parish missal.
One of the militia opened fire on the church, after which the faithful present exited the church.
As the rebels ransacked the parish, the DRC army (FARDC) responded to a distress call and arrived on the scene, and during the ensuing exchange of fire, one of the Mai-Mai group was shot dead.
Following the incident, the parish cancelled all other Easter Sunday Masses and authorities from the Butembo-Beni Catholic diocese have yet to make any statement.
The DRC provinces of North Kivu and Ituri have been in a state of emergency for almost a year under special military rule in an effort to eradicate armed groups.
The attack took place five years after the kidnapping of two priests from the same parish church, Fathers Charles Kipasa and Jean-Pierre Akilimali, who were abducted on the evening of July 16, 2017. The priests were never found.
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