A Catholic nun and six patients were killed in an attack by a radical Muslim rebel group called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), originally from Uganda. , against a Catholic parish infirmary in the village of Maboya in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the night of October 19 and 20, last.
Maboya belongs to Butembo-Beni diocese in northern Kivu, where rebel groups have long been raging.
According to the human rights organization International Christian Concern, ICC, a local Anglican pastor said: “Our town was attacked at night… When we heard voices Gun shot at the hospital, we fled into the woods to hide. Only the next morning did we return to find out that Sister Sylvie Kalima, who worked at the hospital, was killed, her body burned. The other six people killed were patients."
The parish priest of the local Queen of Peace parish said the gunfire started at 1:30 p.m. Not long before, the nun in the duty room, of the Little Sisters of Our Lady of Consecration, had called to alert the parish priest about people wearing armed uniforms entering the medical center in the parish territory. They broke down the door of the medicine store and the door of her room. A few minutes later the phone went silent. The pastor understood that he had to find a place to hide. People also ran into the forest.
At 6:30 a.m. on October 20, the people returned to the village. They check the damage. In addition to the bodies, they also noticed many people from shops and homes near the hospital, including two nuns considered missing, possibly abducted by armed groups.
Sister Sylvie Kalima's family confirmed her body was found in the hospital, in the room where she worked.
Bishop Melchisédek Sikuli, Bishop of Beni-Butembo diocese, offered his condolences to the people and expressed horror at the attack on the Catholic medical center in Maboya, and grief over the killing of Sister Sylvie.
Since the beginning of this October, the radical Islamic militia group ADF has increased attacks to promote Islamization. Last October 4, 20 Christians were killed in Kainama north of Kivu. Every day, there are reports of attacks by this force in the two northern provinces of Kivu and and Ituri.
The Maboya attack came a day after the Catholic parish of Mbau held a prayer service to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the abduction of three parish priests, Father Edmond, Jean Pierre and Anselmo on 19 May by ADF rebels. Ten in 2021 and never returned.
(persecution.org 20-10-2022, Vatican News 21-10-2022)