I am glad that Russ Feingold agreed to be the U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and I’m glad that he is trying to raise awareness about the 5.4 million people who have died in the region since the mid-1990s. But I get frustrated with this issue because I don’t feel it is ever adequately explained. Even in Feingold’s article, he doesn’t tell us why so many people have died or how the violence is sustained or who the various parties are to the conflict. Without that kind of information, how are we to even begin to know what can and should be done?
I know the information is available, but it requires a real commitment to go out and find it because so few people are writing about it, at least here in the States. Part of Feingold’s job is to change that, but that’s why I see his article as a lost opportunity. He tells us that there is a huge problem and a little about who is trying to fix it, but he doesn’t tell us why there is a huge problem or who and what is standing in the way of peace.