Public leader of Francophone Protestantism kidnapped in DR Congo

Pentecostal Pastor Majagira Ruhigita Espoir Bulangalire was kidnapped along with his wife by armed men April 27 in the late afternoon, as the couple was traveling to the city of Kiliba in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province to worship the following Sunday. Since then, several important voices in the DRC have called for their release.

Expressing his « deep sadness » and « outrage, » Denis Mukwege, a 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and evangelical pastor, demanded the release of Pastor Bulangalire. « We condemn this criminal practice that has persisted in this region for several years, » denounced Mukwege, who is also a distant relative of Bulangalire. In France, the president of the Reformed Protestant Evangelical Church, Jean-Raymond Stauffacher, also called for the release of the couple.

Unifier of African Churches in France

Bulangalire was born in 1959, the son of Jean Ruhigita Ndagora Bugwika, a leading pastor of postcolonial African Protestantism. Bulangalire himself is an intellectual who spent much of his life in France – he is a graduate of the Faculty of Evangelical Theology in Vaux-sur-Seine (Yvelines), a holder of three doctorates, and a former lecturer at Paris Descartes University. He notably published a thesis in 1991 on the rise of African churches in France.

A year earlier in 1990, he founded the Community of Francophone African Churches of Expressions (CEAF), which still brings together several churches frequented by the African diaspora today. In an interview two years ago with Regards Protestants, a French Protestant news site, Bulangalire explained that the creation of CEAF was the result of his field observations during his work in migrant worker hostels. « My eyes were opened to a reality, that of ignored Francophone African Christians, » he said. « Nowhere could they be found. (They were) ‘Churchless.' »

« Established French churches sometimes tended to view Africans through a colonial lens, » he recounted. « Putting words to these realities allowed us to better understand each other, and to provoke an awareness of the needs for a shared space, within which the first African evangelical communities in France could organize themselves. » Bulangalire later served as a pastor in the Reformed Church of France in Amiens, then in Cambrai, before returning to settle permanently in his native country with his wife.

Supporter of the Independence of the DRC

« He is an intellectual with very free thinking, » said Hervé Delahaye, a doctor from Lille in northern France and close friend of the kidnapped pastor. « He strongly opposes corruption and supports the independence of Congo, torn apart by foreign interests and prey to the violence of armed groups supported by Rwanda in Kivu. » He continued this social commitment upon returning to the DRC, where he was elected as a member of parliament in 2012. « He was one of the few to testify to the abuses he observed in politics. Laws changed at the last minute in the middle of the night, for example, » explained Delahaye.

With his wife, a nurse he met in France, Bulangalire also founded the Ruhigita Clinic, based between Uvira on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, where he ministers, and Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu at the Rwandan border. The clinic is financially independent of any external aid. Bulangalire is also one of the driving forces behind the Evangelical University of Africa, which has around 3,000 students. « He brought European professors for two-week teaching stints, » recalled Delahaye, who regularly visits the area.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the pastor’s abduction, and the identities of the assailants remain unknown.