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April 25, 2005
Democratic Republic of Congo
I knew that the war in Democratic Republic of Congo has been horrific. I just came upon a few numbers while reading about a recent report about girls caught up in armed conflicts:
The report describes the six-year conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo as the deadliest war on the planet since the Second World War, and the worst in Africa. From 1998 to 2004, approximately 3.8 million people died as a result of it. All the parties involved in the conflict recruited, abducted and used child soldiers. Children made up approximately 40 percent of some armed groups in the eastern DRC in 2003, with at least 30,000 taking an active part in combat. Thousands more children, mostly girls, were attached to the armed groups to provide sexual and other services.
The second-deadliest-war since the Second World War, and it is yet a blip on our consciousness. In all honesty, I wish I didn't know about it; this is the stuff of deepest despair. I know very little about this particular conflict, but George Monbiot --whose judgement and reporting I have grown to trust-- believes that "It would not be hard for the international community ... to defuse the world’s most deadly conflict."
Posted by zeynep at April 25, 2005 04:01 PM
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