A visit to the Congo

While we worry about Hillary's dress or Huckabee's base, the world goes on. The world is not as good theater, but we should pay attention every so often. The Congo "civil war," a tribal slaughter that spilled over from the Rwanda mass execution in 1994, continues. This is another example of the gross incompetence of the UN, though I can't blame the UN for the Rwanda genocide, that credit goes to Bill Clinton who vetoed UN action in a Security Council vote. It was OK, though, as he recently apologized. First came the corpses of the men and elder boys, killed trying to defend their sisters and mothers. Then came the women and girls, flushed out from their hiding places and slaughter ed. Last came the babies" (Frontline Fellowship 1994). Read the following and don't forget that the UN is a waste of oxygen and our leaders probably cannot find the Congo on a map. One feels impotent and sad because nothing will change unless a TV network decides to air scenes of death. As the article says, most of the people are dying from disease and malnutrition. More than half children. All it would take is for a government or foundation to write a check for medicine and nutrition supplements. The demented Ford Foundation wouldn't do that as it is focused on funding Marxist Mexican groups who want to create turmoil in the US. In the old days, it was concerned with helping people, not a political agenda. Our governments? Not even worth a lament. ======= Congolese Strife Continues to Kill Thousands

By Tendai Maphosa London 23 January 2008

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A new survey reports that an estimated 5.4 million people have died in the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998. Another 45,000 are dying every month. From London, Tendai Maphosa has more in this report for VOA.

A displaced mother and child stand near a mud hut in Minova, Democratic Republic of Congo, 18 Dec. 2007

A study led by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a humanitarian organization found five years after the catastrophic war in Congo officially ended, the rate at which people are dying in the country remains virtually unchanged.

This is despite efforts of the world's largest peacekeeping force, billions of dollars in international aid and a historic election that revived democracy after decades of violence and despotism.

IRC president George Rupp says the conflict and its aftermath, in terms of fatalities, are the worst since World War II. According to Rupp, Congo's loss is equivalent to the entire population of Denmark or the U.S. state of Colorado perishing within a decade.

IRC UK director Sarah Hughes tells VOA that a tiny percentage of the deaths were caused by violence, illustrating how the aftermath of war can be more deadly than combat itself.

"By far the overwhelming proportion of people dying is through preventable disease such as malaria or pneumonia," she said. "Disease which can be prevented when there is security, when the population has access to health services, in other words they can reach a clinic, the clinic does have the drugs they need, they can give birth in safe surroundings etc."

Young children, who are especially susceptible to diseases like malaria, measles, dysentery and typhoid, have been particularly hard hit because medicines have not been available.

Hughes says although children are only 19 percent of the DRC's population, they make up half of the non-combat related deaths. According to the United Nations children's fund, UNICEF, the DRC is one of 11 countries where 20 percent of children die before the age of five.

Hughes says the purpose of the survey is to bring attention to Congo's crisis.

"The thing about the crisis in the Congo is that its very long drawn out, and that's why we want to bring the world's attention more to the plight of the Congolese and the need for very sustained international efforts in terms of resources and other forms of assistance to really help the government of the Congo and the people of the Congo to pull them out of the aftermath of conflict," she added.

The IRC expressed hope that reconciliation and recovery efforts will follow this week's peace agreement between militia leaders and Congo's government.

The survey was based on a sample of 14,000 households surveyed in 700 villages and towns across Congo from January 2006 to April 2007.

The DRC has experienced two foreign invasions that involved neighboring countries since 1994. Even after the departure of foreign forces, violence has erupted in such regions of the country as North Kivu.