April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
EDITORIAL

Congo: the crisis we continue to ignore

While the world rushes to help Haiti and now Chile, as we should, it brings to mind other recent disasters and conflicts that have drawn a widespread humanitarian response. These range from the Indonesian tsunami in 2004 to earthquakes in China and Pakistan and flooding in various nations. We have also acted, or tried to act, to stop or relieve war and conflict in Darfur, Burma, Chad, Somalia - the list goes on.

Some calamities provoked strong reaction after the fact, when it was too late to do anything but promise, "Never again." The biggest tragedy yet eludes our consciousness and conscience. It lies hidden in plain sight in the middle of Africa. We need to notice and demand our leaders act to help end it.

In the period 1998-2007 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 5,400,000 people died from war-related causes, according to a recent study by the International Rescue Committee. That makes it the deadliest since World War II.

Most have died from non-violent causes such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition - which are preventable and treatable during peacetime. With an estimated 45,000 dying monthly, the total now would be more than six million - a sadly familiar figure.

The history of Congo - a brutal colonial period, post-independence struggles, recent entanglement in regional conflicts involving Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and other countries - certainly helped create the situation.

The more immediate cause, the one that fuels the fighting now, is the illegal trade in minerals by warlords who dominate resource-rich areas and use the profits to supply and power their forces.

The contributing cause is its relative lack of importance on the world stage. Had it a major supply of oil, one could argue, the major powers may have stepped in sooner. Maybe if it was more familiar to us or had been hit by a tidal wave or earthquake, we would notice. In any case, the killing and deaths continue because the world is not insisting these stop.

Far from home and safe in Albany, Mbuyi Mukendi recalls the early stages of the current violence and wishes there was more to do. A mother and state worker who directs the choir at the Black Apostolate at St. Joan of Arc parish in Menands, Ms. Mukendi came here to attend The College of Saint Rose in Albany and play basketball. Congo was already getting dangerous for her family's people, the Kasai, so she defected.

"The tension was in the air," she said, then described a typically bewildering outbreak of violence. "Back in 1992-93, there was a massive genocide in Katanga [province]. Neighbors who knew each other were killing each other with machetes. The governor at the time there said, 'Katanga belongs to the Katanga people and everybody else has to go.'"

Since then, there have been many other outbreaks. Two civil wars have come and gone; elections and power-sharing agreements are often repudiated by subsequent violence. President Joseph Kabila, who assumed the post after his father was assassinated in 2001, seems unable to bring participatory government or national peace.

Ms. Mukendi credits the Catholic Church and other groups for their work in and outside Congo. But she worries that her country may have lost heart and hope after decades of war.

"Democracy doesn't exist," she said. "Or do they see that and don't care?"

Diplomatically, we should demand that our leaders in Washington pressure Rwanda and other neighbors to withdraw from any roles other than peacemaking in Congo's conflict. As columnist Nicholas Kristof urges, President Kabila should arrest and prosecute militia leaders already indicted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges. The U.S. should push for international monitoring of the trade in gold, tin or coltan, the last a critical element in the cell phones we press to our ears.

"The Congolese people don't like to fight; they want peace," Ms. Mukendi said. But from a distance, she needs other voices added to hers. "It hurts. It hurts, and I don't have any power to do anything."

For now, she does have to get ready to sing in church on Sunday.

(03/11/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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