“We firmly denounce this barbaric criminal attack against innocent people,” declared Father Léonard Ndjadi Ndjate, Superior of the Congo Province of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus. In his communqué, shared on the 2nd of January, he stated that four Comboni postulants were in the car along with a driver when they were attacked. 

He also wrote that the Mai-Mai rebels opened fire on the car with the bullets piercing the wheels. In the attack, “a bullet injured the leg of postulant Héritier Mamba,” he said. The 22-year-old young man was transferred to the hospital of Matanda in Butembo. 

The Comboni priest lamented that “the law enforcement body is unable to protect the people in the Eastern part of the country.” Finally, he asked the people to pray for peace in the region and everywhere in Africa.