The Silent Congo War: globalEyeNews Video Report Highest War Death Toll Since WWII Rape is Still a Weapon of Choice
The Silent Congo War Five Million Dead - Highest War Death Toll Since WWII
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire, is the site of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Five million have died in seven years, more than any other conflict since the Second World War. The war, centered mainly in eastern Congo, has involved nine African nations and directly affected the lives of 50 million Congolese.
While there is now cautious optimism for peace after the “Goma agreement” was signed on 23 January 2008, the death toll continues to rise as infectious diseases and violence run rampant through communities cut off from the most basic of essentials and help.
Mortality studies estimate that over 1,000 people continue to die each day from conflict-related issues, including runaway disease, malnutrition and ongoing violence. The most dire political, civil and humanitarian issues that have laid siege to the DRC continue to plague the nation's populace including national army members and armed groups alike that engage in perpetrating atrocities against civilians.
Congo Rape Horror: Rape As an Instrument of War
Perhaps the most horrifying of all is the widespread use of rape as an instrument of war. The social and health complications presented by this unimaginable crisis have been devastating, with, more often than not, women bearing the children of the rapists and causing, at the very least, the social fabric of a nation already in the throes of the intolerable to be cruelly torn apart.
Despite the efforts of UNICEF, the UN and global partners attempting to seek an end to the ongoing conflicts, including MONUC, the world’s largest and most expensive peacekeeping operation, little has been accomplished to establish permanent solutions that would provide relief to a vastly suffering nation.
The DRC is made up of approximately 200 separate ethnic groups, all with distincly different language and interests, which, in itself, presents massive social, economic and political complexities, perhaps, beyond the pale of manageable.
The Silence of Despair and Death
Perhaps, the most unimaginable aspect of all is that, for the most part, the Congo War has been waged in silent despair; of plunder, violence, starvation, disease and death, with global attention in such tragic disproportion to the sheer magnitude of human suffering that has made life intolerable for so many millions.
You can make a donation for emergency relief to the children and victims of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Support UNICEF Congo Relief page.
(Katie Couric: Eye to Eye) Couric speaks with Michelle Obama about how her two young daughters are coping with their father's surge in popularity as his presidential campaign gains momentum. (CBS News On Demand)
The Silent Congo War: With over 1,000 people continuing to die each day from conflict-related causes, five million have perished in seven years, more than any other conflict since WWII. Perhaps the most unimaginable aspect of all is the widespread use of genocidal rape as an instrument of war by both sides of the conflict.
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