Why does no one care that the world’s worst conflict has broken out again?
By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 14th December 2004. I hope that the newspapers do not represent public opinion. If they do, it means that we consider the Home Secretary’s love affair several hundred times more important than the resumption of the most deadly conflict since the Second World War. On Sunday the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), already responsible for 3.8 million deaths, started again.(1) If you missed it, you’re in good company. The Rwandan army appears to have crossed back into north-eastern DRC. Rival factions of the Congolese army – some of them loyal to Rwanda – have started fighting each other. As usual, it’s the civilians who are being killed – and raped and tortured and forced to flee into the forest. Last week, before the fighting resumed, the International Rescue Committee reported that over 1000 people a day are still dying from disease and malnutrition caused by the last conflict. Nearly half of them are children under five.(2)
