The civil war in the Congo. Children shown here in a UN refugee camp have made toys from mud of what they see and have experienced.
The emptiness of the Bush administration’s foreign policy is underscored by the total lack of humanitarian effort or involvement in this deadliest war. As Americans we are nearly totally ignorant of this decade long war in the Congo. Wonder why? Is it because Exxon Mobil has no oil fields there? Is it because these folks are Black Africans? Sadly, I have not heard any discussion among the candidates to replace Bush about this human disaster in the Congo. Looking at the web sites of the candidates I found something on Senator Obama's site, nothing on the other's including Hillary, McCain and Romney.
45,000 die every month and who gives a damn about them in the US? An international rescue group said preventable diseases and starvation aggravated by conflict have claimed 5.4 million lives since 1998. This is the equivalent of the population of Denmark. War officially ended in 2002 but malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition continue to take thousands. Half of all the fatalities have been children under the age of five. Rebels still control some portions of the country where young girls are kidnapped to become the sex slaves of the militias. Mass rape is altogether too common in the lives of the women in the Congo. The CBS news program ‘60 Minutes’ reported the story of a brother and sister. The young woman was raped multiple times by soldiers while her brother was forced to watch. The soldiers then told him to rape his sister, which he would not do. They killed him.
I am reminded of another time when the founder of Mitt’s church cried out in pain over injustice and plead for the mercies of heaven:
"O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward those..."
in the Congo?
One must ask how many children must die and women be raped before we do anything? Indeed 'how long shall they suffer'?
You can read more at this link from the Guardian in the UK.
