Pope rallies Congo's youth, and gets a thunderous response

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Pope Francis urged Congo’s young people to work for a peaceful and honest future on Thursday, getting a raucous response from a generation that has been particularly hard-hit by the country’s chronic poverty, corruption and conflict. The United Nations and humanitarian organizations have said the country’s youth were particularly vulnerable to abuses as violence flares in the eas t. Just this week, UNICEF demanded the release of a dozen children reportedly abducted during an attack in restive North Kivu province, and Save the Children raised alarm about the plight of children amid massive flows of displaced people fleeing the violence. “Do not let yourselves be manipulated by individuals or groups that try to use you to keep your country in the grip of violence and instability, so that they can continue to control it without answering to anyone.” Violence has wracked eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups and self-defense militias fight for land and power.