EXPERTS TALK: Democratic Republic of Congo
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Rebel soldiers of Democratic Republic of Congo patrol near the front line in Kanyabayonga, in eastern Congo.
FILE PHOTO by RADU SIGHETI
FILE PHOTO by RADU SIGHETI
Over a year after the war ended, fierce fighting continues in the remote, eastern part of the country and the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. Between three and five million Congolese have been killed, and some 30,000 continue to die in war-related deaths every month.
Aid experts say why they picked Congo for AlertNet's March 2005 poll of "forgotten" emergencies, where it ranked number one.
On the statistics of war…
The worst humanitarian tragedy since the Holocaust. Five million dead and yet the neighbou8ring countries have gone unpunished as they drop in and out of the Congo to feed their greed. The greatest example on the planet of man’s inhumanity to man.
John O’Shea, Chief Executive, GOAL, Ireland
*** The International Rescue Committee reports that 31,000 die monthly in the Congo and 3.8 million have died in past six years, more than in any other conflict since World War II... The war in the Congo, which many call the Third World War, has implicated Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. While peace has formally been declared, fighting, rape, torture, disappearances, displacement, ethnic cleansing, and massacres continue to take place.
Kathryn Wolford, President, Lutheran World Relief, USA
*** Worst war since 1945, over four million displaced, rape and mutilation used as standard weapons of war leading to growing HIV infection in a country which if stable and secure could be the bread basket of Africa as well as financially stable from vast wealth of natural resources.
Paul Hetherington, Media officer for emergencies, Save the Children UK On the exploitation of natural resources… As with so many past conflicts in developing countries, some of which I've covered, the rich world unwittingly colludes because the fighting's about plundering natural resources. I personally feel guilty that as a foreign reporter I still haven't been there to report on this immense tragedy and to help open the eyes of the world as to what's happening.
Jonathan Miller, Foreign affairs correspondent, Channel 4 News, UK
*** Very few people are even aware of the problems there. Also, it is a crisis which the west is implicated in through exploitation of minerals. Bringing peace to this vast country is also critical in bringing stability to the whole region, including Uganda and Rwanda.
Joy Andrew, Supporter enquiries, Tearfund - UK
*** I have no hesitation in saying that the continuing conflict in the Congo remains the single most under reporter disaster. Africa's First World War. A dozen nations involved. Internecine killing, bloodshed, diamonds, minerals of all sorts, malnutrition. All inhumanity is here.
Jon Snow, Newsanchorman, Channel 4 News, UK On media coverage... The conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic in Congo deserves far more coverage than it has got... But I know the reasons it doesn't get covered enough. The story is always the same: it induces despair, it's expensive and dangerous, and one feels that there are no solutions and no end to it all. Many of us who spent a lot of time in the DRC in the '90s can't face returning, because it is too painful and draining. It needs younger reporters, who can be horrified and indignant afresh and make us care again.
Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 News, UK
*** It will take courage, energy and creativity - DRC is not media friendly. Most people don't know where it is or the difference between DRC and Congo, so it will require something amazing to change that.
Pierre Moon, Regional funding coordinator, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, OXFAM Regional Centre, Nairobi
*** This ongoing crisis gets sporadic coverage, but the focus tends to be on “ethnicity” rather than resources/power and the other factors. It is often seen as just another complicated African war that nothing can be done about. The lack of political will (and public pressure) to do anything about it means that several years on, the crisis persists.
Isabelle Carboni, Programme officer, West Africa and Asia, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, UK
*** Our Mortality Survey of the Congo got some press attention when it was released in mid-December and got a surprising second wind because of the tsunami in Asia - journalists wanting to contrast the response to the tsunami with deaths elsewhere were able to draw from the dismal figures in our survey. But the challenge for us is to ensure it is not quickly forgotten and to use the findings of this report to advocate for real action from the U.S. and others in the international community.
Anne C. Richard, Vice president, Government Relations & Advocacy, International Rescue Committee, USA On neglect by the international community… DRC Crisis gets my vote. It is woefully inadequately served either by U.N. or NGO resources. The peacekeeping process is a mess, despite, I think, probably good intentions and some thought. We are only touching the very tip of the vileness that is being done to innocent people every day and much of what is killing people is avoidable or treatable.
Yoma Winder, Humanitarian programme adviser, Oxfam GB On international aid... Ninety percent of aid committed to DRC in 2002-2003 went to debt relief. In a country where so little is spent on basic services anyway - for example, one percent of GDP on education - this shows the negligible improvement that the 55 million people of DRC are seeing in their day-to-day to lives as a result of aid. To put this into context, one percent of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Sudan in the same period went to debt relief, one percent of aid to Afghanistan was debt relief, and zero percent of the ODA to Angola was gobbled by debt relief. Needless to say the argument is not that debt relief is “bad”, but rather this illustrates the nature of aid to DRC and its limited impact on people's day-to-day lives... There is something cruelly ironic that the ODA that the people of DRC get the most of is paying off the bad loans and expenditures of the Mobutu era.
Pierre Moon, Regional funding coordinator, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, OXFAM Regional Centre, Nairobi
John O’Shea, Chief Executive, GOAL, Ireland
*** The International Rescue Committee reports that 31,000 die monthly in the Congo and 3.8 million have died in past six years, more than in any other conflict since World War II... The war in the Congo, which many call the Third World War, has implicated Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. While peace has formally been declared, fighting, rape, torture, disappearances, displacement, ethnic cleansing, and massacres continue to take place.
Kathryn Wolford, President, Lutheran World Relief, USA
*** Worst war since 1945, over four million displaced, rape and mutilation used as standard weapons of war leading to growing HIV infection in a country which if stable and secure could be the bread basket of Africa as well as financially stable from vast wealth of natural resources.
Paul Hetherington, Media officer for emergencies, Save the Children UK On the exploitation of natural resources… As with so many past conflicts in developing countries, some of which I've covered, the rich world unwittingly colludes because the fighting's about plundering natural resources. I personally feel guilty that as a foreign reporter I still haven't been there to report on this immense tragedy and to help open the eyes of the world as to what's happening.
Jonathan Miller, Foreign affairs correspondent, Channel 4 News, UK
*** Very few people are even aware of the problems there. Also, it is a crisis which the west is implicated in through exploitation of minerals. Bringing peace to this vast country is also critical in bringing stability to the whole region, including Uganda and Rwanda.
Joy Andrew, Supporter enquiries, Tearfund - UK
*** I have no hesitation in saying that the continuing conflict in the Congo remains the single most under reporter disaster. Africa's First World War. A dozen nations involved. Internecine killing, bloodshed, diamonds, minerals of all sorts, malnutrition. All inhumanity is here.
Jon Snow, Newsanchorman, Channel 4 News, UK On media coverage... The conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic in Congo deserves far more coverage than it has got... But I know the reasons it doesn't get covered enough. The story is always the same: it induces despair, it's expensive and dangerous, and one feels that there are no solutions and no end to it all. Many of us who spent a lot of time in the DRC in the '90s can't face returning, because it is too painful and draining. It needs younger reporters, who can be horrified and indignant afresh and make us care again.
Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 News, UK
*** It will take courage, energy and creativity - DRC is not media friendly. Most people don't know where it is or the difference between DRC and Congo, so it will require something amazing to change that.
Pierre Moon, Regional funding coordinator, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, OXFAM Regional Centre, Nairobi
*** This ongoing crisis gets sporadic coverage, but the focus tends to be on “ethnicity” rather than resources/power and the other factors. It is often seen as just another complicated African war that nothing can be done about. The lack of political will (and public pressure) to do anything about it means that several years on, the crisis persists.
Isabelle Carboni, Programme officer, West Africa and Asia, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, UK
*** Our Mortality Survey of the Congo got some press attention when it was released in mid-December and got a surprising second wind because of the tsunami in Asia - journalists wanting to contrast the response to the tsunami with deaths elsewhere were able to draw from the dismal figures in our survey. But the challenge for us is to ensure it is not quickly forgotten and to use the findings of this report to advocate for real action from the U.S. and others in the international community.
Anne C. Richard, Vice president, Government Relations & Advocacy, International Rescue Committee, USA On neglect by the international community… DRC Crisis gets my vote. It is woefully inadequately served either by U.N. or NGO resources. The peacekeeping process is a mess, despite, I think, probably good intentions and some thought. We are only touching the very tip of the vileness that is being done to innocent people every day and much of what is killing people is avoidable or treatable.
Yoma Winder, Humanitarian programme adviser, Oxfam GB On international aid... Ninety percent of aid committed to DRC in 2002-2003 went to debt relief. In a country where so little is spent on basic services anyway - for example, one percent of GDP on education - this shows the negligible improvement that the 55 million people of DRC are seeing in their day-to-day to lives as a result of aid. To put this into context, one percent of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Sudan in the same period went to debt relief, one percent of aid to Afghanistan was debt relief, and zero percent of the ODA to Angola was gobbled by debt relief. Needless to say the argument is not that debt relief is “bad”, but rather this illustrates the nature of aid to DRC and its limited impact on people's day-to-day lives... There is something cruelly ironic that the ODA that the people of DRC get the most of is paying off the bad loans and expenditures of the Mobutu era.
Pierre Moon, Regional funding coordinator, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, OXFAM Regional Centre, Nairobi
