Ursuline Nun Investigated in Murder of Congo President
KINSHASA, Democratic Congo, Mar. 9, 01 (CWNews.com/Fides) -
Congo-born Ursuline nun, Sr. Antoinette Fari, for years a
prison-pastoral worker among inmates of prisons in
Lubumbashi and Likasi, has been taken to Kinshasa for
questioning by the Military High Court concerning the
assassination of President Laurent Desire Kabila in the
capital on January 16.
The Lubumbashi-based Human Rights Federation, which voiced
concern for the safety of the Catholic religious, reported
the detainment. Sr. Fari, now under house arrest at a
religious community center in Kinshasa, was arrested and
detained in December 1999, charged with helping political
prisoners and acting as a mediator between Congolese
Captain Masasu, in prison at Buluwo, and a Lebanese agent,
whose name is not known, a resident in Kinshasa. The nun
was eventually released after interventions by Cardinal
Etsou Nzabi-Bamungwabi of Kinshasa and several human rights
organizations.
Later she moved to a convent in Likasi in southeast Congo
and a few months later was elected provincial superior of
her order. Kinshasa affirmed that Sr. Fari has been called
for questioning by the commission investigating the
assassination of the president, regarding her work in
assisting prisoners and that it is not a judiciary matter.
First reports said that Sr. Fari was accused of "treason,"
punishable with the death penalty in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
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March 10, 2001
volume 12, no. 69
News from the Universal Church
www.DailyCatholic.org
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