[Note: This diary is the next installment of 10 Stories the World Should Hear More About as identified by the United Nations for 2006, a Booman Tribune Group Project suggested and coordinated by ManEegee. For further information see Group Project: 10 Most Underreported Stories.]
As the world is applauding the determination of the Congolese people and leadership to take a crucial step in the country’s transition from a bloody civil war to peace and democracy, the steep humanitarian challenges facing the devastated nation must not be forgotten.
Scale of Humanitarian Challenges
The DRC is Africa’s third largest country, comparable in size to Western Europe. It is five times larger than Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone combined, with more than twice their population – over 62 million.
The map of Democratic Republic of Congo from CIA World Factbook
Established as a Belgian colony in 1908, the DRC gained its independence in 1960, but its early years were marred by political and social instability. Bordered by Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, the DRC has endured civil war and numerous coups since 1960.
With nearly 80 per cent of the population trapped in extreme poverty and more than 70 per cent undernourished, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has appealed for $50 million to support the agricultural rehabilitation of this vast country. The United Nations reports that DRC’s maternal mortality ratio of 1,300 deaths per 100,000 live births ranks as one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in Africa. Life expectancy averages 51.46 years (men – 50.01 years, women – 52.94 years) as estimated in the CIA Fact book, June 2006.
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It is estimated total of 242 languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Only 4 have the status of national languages: Kikongo, Lingala, Tshiluba and Swahili. French is the official language of the DRC. It is seen as a ethically neutral language to facilitate communications between all the ethnic groups in the DRC. It is important to note that the four national languages were being used in the primary, at the time the DRC was a Belgian colony. This makes the DRC one of the few African countries with literacy in their local languages during European occupation.
Pity of Congolese Children
Minors are being recruited in Bukavu
to serve in vigilante “self-defense
groups”. MONUC meets with leaders
of local “neighborhood watch”
organizations to stop such activities.
Photo Dan Casperzs / MONUC
The United Nations reports that about half of the 62 million Congolese are under the age of 18 and children are particularly affected by the crisis. Some 20 per cent of children do not live until the age of 5, while 38 per cent suffer from malnutrition — 20 per cent severely. Half of those between 6 and 11 years old do not attend school and nearly 10 per cent are believed to have lost one or both parents to the AIDS pandemic.
An estimated 20,000 have been child soldiers. In September 2003, Amnesty International reported that during the height of the civil war, an effort was established to recruit Congolese children to support various warring factions. In one account, a Congolese child explains how she was recruited into the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL):
“I was recruited in Goma on my way home from school. I came across some soldiers who were pretending to mend their broken-down vehicle, but in fact it was a ploy. They called me and some other children over, and when I went up to them, they grabbed me, threw me into their vehicle and took me off to a training centre. I was trained there and then we began the march towards Kinshasa. Because we were taken just like that on our way home from school, our parents had no idea where we were. To this very day I don’t know if my parents are alive. And even if they are, they don’t know what’s become of me.”
This report goes on to describe the challenges and abuses these Congolese children faced as child soldiers:
“The abuses children suffer during training set the tone for a life in the army which is dominated by hardship and further abuse. Children suffer disproportionately from the rigours of army life and are especially vulnerable to disease and malnutrition in the hostile terrains of the equatorial forests. Even outside battle, mortality rates for both boys and girls are high, as they are pushed to the limits of their physical and emotional endurance.”
“The children who survive the harsh training are given a variety of tasks to perform.
Some act as cooks or porters, carrying supplies, water, food, firewood and munitions for the adult soldiers. They are often used to carry off the goods which their commanders have looted during battle, or to take the weapons of enemy soldiers who have been killed. Some act as personal bodyguards to their commanders, while others are sent on reconnaissance missions into the bush or to nearby villages in order to detect the positions of enemy troops and assess their numbers. Commanders hope that, as children, they will pass unnoticed by the enemy on these missions. Girls are exploited by soldiers for sex, and rape is very common.“At one time or another, almost all child soldiers will also be involved in some capacity in active combat. Inexperienced and occasionally reckless, they sometimes find themselves pushed into the vanguard of advancing troops, effectively to act as human shields for the adult soldiers who follow on behind them. It is impossible to estimate with accuracy the numbers of child soldier casualties over the last seven years, but it is a question of many, many thousands. Many are not even given a proper burial. Even their own families will probably never know the true fate of these children.”
Disease
UNICEF and OCHA have provided humanitarian
assistance, in the course of the first quarter of
2006, to 120,000 new internally displaced
persons (IDPs) per month in the DR Congo,
amounting to some 356,000 persons.
Photo Archive / MONUC
What is causing approximately 1,200 Congolese people to die every day? Diseases, such as bacterial diarrhea, protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, plague, schistosomiasis, and African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) are some of the main culprits. Many of these diseases, with the exception of African trypanosomiasis, have vaccines and drugs that can cure or greatly reduce the disease’s ability to spread throughout the human body. Years of war have severely crippled the DRC medical infrastructure.
Environmental Issues
The DRC faces numerous environmental issues that could seriously hamper the country’s ability to become a prosperous nation. The major issues facing the Congolese people include:
- Poaching threatens wildlife populations
- Water pollution
- Deforestation
- Mining of minerals (coltan – a mineral used in creating capacitors, diamonds, and gold)
Refugees, resulting from years of civil war, have been responsible for significant deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching throughout the country. Struggling to maintain some semblance of a normal life, these refugees’ actions may be destroying the very land and resources needed to overcome decades of poverty and strife.
Human Rights
In June 2006, the six-month human rights assessment in the DRC was published. Here are excerptions from the report’s executive summary:
In the pre-electoral period, MONUC has noted a significant increase in the number of politically motivated human rights violations linked to the electoral campaigning. The police, the ANR and other members of the security forces have been involved in repressing the civil liberties of individuals suspected of holding certain political affiliations. Sometimes these assumptions have been based on the victim’s perceived or actual ethnic identity. These violations have included arbitrary arrest, illegal detention or acts of physical violence, such as beatings or use of excessive force by police during demonstrations.
MONUC is also concerned by the fact that civilians are routinely tried for common crimes before military jurisdictions. Although such practice is grounded in Congolese law, it contradicts international principles according to which civilians must never be tried by military courts. A legislative reform to correct this anomaly should be one of the first priorities of the new Parliament.
Human rights discourse is largely absent in the manifestos of the main political parties. There are no clearly defined objectives for human rights protection and promotion. Neither are there any declarations by the main political contenders to include human rights issues in the core program of a new administration.
Personal Commentary
It was a very tough dairy assignment for me since my ancestors came from Algeria and Morocco. It is hard to imagine the pain and despair the Congolese have endured over the past 45 years. From my perspective, it does not even seem possible for a culture to have to experience such angst even they try to change the course of their future. How did the DRC come to this painful state of existence? Why did it even have to happen in the first place? Children with no childhood to learn and play; common diseases destroying the current and future generations with no mercy; exploitation of natural resources going unchecked – at times, I could only stop typing and wipe the tears from my eyes.
The need is great and the laborers are few. Today and every day, 38,000 people per month (that is over 1,200 people per day) die from largely preventable diseases and malnutrition — the equivalent of a tsunami toll every six months. Yet, the immense human suffering buried in these numbers all too often remains outside the glower of sustained media attention. Is the pursuit of Mideast peace and celebrity gossip so much more important than ignoring the pity and needs of over 62 million people in the heart of Africa?
This is a story that must told so good and decent individuals of this world can bring their knowledge, expertise, and compassion to this nation struggling to pull itself out of the depths of misery and death into a new culture of security, comfort and life. To think that many of us worry about living, when there are so many more in the United States and the DRC, just worry about surviving. Until we, as human beings on this earth, can see with eyes of compassion and mercy, the Congolese will become just an asterisk, grave marker, and historical memory for some history trivia game. So, who is my neighbor and what I can even hope to do? That question, my fellow human beings, can only be asked within our hearts. So let’s hope our response is quick, heart-felt, and meaningful.
UN10: Part I – Democratic Republic of the Congo – Historic Vote – Discussion on the DRC election and its’ importance to the growth of the nation
For more information on the Democratic Republic of Congo, please refer to the Internet resources, obtained from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Democratic Republic of Congo- Internet Resources
News
Yahoo! News Full Coverage – DR Congo news headline links
Friends of the Congo
US Department of State’s Travel Warnings – Advising US Residents not to visit
IRIN News page for DRC, from the United Nations
United Nations News Centre – DRC
Overviews
CIA World Factbook – Democratic Republic of the Congo
Guardian Unlimited – Special Report: Congo
Library of Congress Country Study – Zaire (Former) data as of December 1993
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Congo
United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC)
Directories
Open Directory Project – Democratic Republic of the Congo directory category
Stanford University – Africa South of the Sahara: Democratic Republic of the Congo directory category
University of Pennsylvania – African Studies Center: Democratic Republic of Congo directory category
Yahoo! – Congo, Democratic Republic of the directory category
Democratic Republic of the Congo travel guide from Wikitravel
Additional Resources
Globalissues.org – The Democratic Republic of Congo last updated October 31, 2003
Wildlife Conservation Society – Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kim Gjerstad’s blog, photos and stories from DR Congo (Blog)
The Salon: Opinion and News on Congo, and Africa (Blog)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Ripples of Genocide: Journey Through Eastern Congo Journal compiled from the impressions and contributions of UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie, John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group, and two photographers.
