The Forgotten War
By some estimates the war in the Congo
has claimed up to 6 million lives, making it the second deadliest war
of the last one hundred years after World War II. The conflict has
been referred to as the African World War because of the number
of African countries involved and the extend of western countries
outside influence. Still very few westerners are aware of the tragedy
of the situation in the Congo. The war in the Congo has been one of
unspeakable suffering for the civilian population. It has been a war
of mass killings and genocide, systematic rape and torture,
widespread enslavement and the extensive decimation of villages and
crops leading to pandemic starvation and disease.
On the surface the roots of the Congo
war are often attributed to ethnic tensions. Ethnic tensions and
hatred certainly drive and whip into frenzy the various armies and
guerrilla groups that perpetrate the violence. Behind the scenes
however much of the causes of the conflicts are directly related to
the Congos vast wealth of natural resources. The Congo is a
country of indescribable beauty. Its earth is a rich black volcanic
soil and its climate is mild and perfectly suited to agriculture.
More importantly, its hills and forests contain some of the worlds
largest deposits of timber, petroleum, diamonds, gold, silver, tin,
copper, zinc, cobalt and a little known mineral known as coltan which
is a vital components in every cell phone on the planet.
Indeed ever since under Belgian
colonization, the discovery of the vulcanization process of rubber lead to huge world wide demand for rubber, people have been dying in
the Congo by the millions. Today 1000-2000 thousand people continue
to die per day.
|
 |
| Soldiers outside a refugee camp |
|
|
