Just to illustrate a point (with some info I found on the internet). When a natural distaster of the Tsunami magnitude strikes, people respond (are seeming to at this present time) with a great deal of support. But when the disaster is directly man made (I accept that the Tsnami could be interpreted by some as such) the response is...it's not our country, our government so we won't help...here's some statistics to show just how many people are dying in the Congo...consistently. P.S I make no personal judgement about the comparison, but it is one that we should be aware of...
SENEGAL
DRC death toll at 3.8-million
Ellen Knickmeyer
Posted Fri, 10 Dec 2004
Six years of continuing conflict in Congo have claimed 3.8-million lives, nearly half of them children, with most victims killed by disease and famine in the still largely cut-off east, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a study.
The international association has produced the most widely used running estimate of deaths in Congo, Africa's third-largest nation.
More than 31 000 civilians continue to die monthly as a result of the conflict, despite peace deals that ended major fighting in the 1998-2002 war, the New York-based group said on Thursday, citing mortality surveys prepared with the assistance of on-site teams of physicians and epidemiologists.
Congo's death toll remains a third higher than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa 18 months after major peace deals, the IRC said.
Most deaths come from easily treatable ailments, it said, citing measles epidemics known to have swept populations in the foreign and rebel-held east during the war.
"In fact, Congo is the deadliest war the world has seen since the end of the Second World War and these staggering figures have gone largely ignored by the media and world leaders," Dr Richard Brennan, director of the organisation's health unit, told Associated Press Television News in New York.
Deaths among children accounted for 45.4 percent of the 500 000 estimated deaths from conflict in the latest deaths between the survey period of January 2003 and April 2004.
Sporadic but persistent clashes and tensions continue to limit civilian access to humanitarian assistance, food supplies and basic medical care.
Seventy percent of Congo's estimated 60-million plus people still have no secure access to food, international agencies estimate.
When does one tragedy outweigh another...how and why do we judge who 'deserves' it and should we be making any judgements at all? Are we so blind to the human disasters that are happening every single day, that in comparison, can make a Tsumani seem small?
SENEGAL
DRC death toll at 3.8-million
Ellen Knickmeyer
Posted Fri, 10 Dec 2004
Six years of continuing conflict in Congo have claimed 3.8-million lives, nearly half of them children, with most victims killed by disease and famine in the still largely cut-off east, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a study.
The international association has produced the most widely used running estimate of deaths in Congo, Africa's third-largest nation.
More than 31 000 civilians continue to die monthly as a result of the conflict, despite peace deals that ended major fighting in the 1998-2002 war, the New York-based group said on Thursday, citing mortality surveys prepared with the assistance of on-site teams of physicians and epidemiologists.
Congo's death toll remains a third higher than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa 18 months after major peace deals, the IRC said.
Most deaths come from easily treatable ailments, it said, citing measles epidemics known to have swept populations in the foreign and rebel-held east during the war.
"In fact, Congo is the deadliest war the world has seen since the end of the Second World War and these staggering figures have gone largely ignored by the media and world leaders," Dr Richard Brennan, director of the organisation's health unit, told Associated Press Television News in New York.
Deaths among children accounted for 45.4 percent of the 500 000 estimated deaths from conflict in the latest deaths between the survey period of January 2003 and April 2004.
Sporadic but persistent clashes and tensions continue to limit civilian access to humanitarian assistance, food supplies and basic medical care.
Seventy percent of Congo's estimated 60-million plus people still have no secure access to food, international agencies estimate.
When does one tragedy outweigh another...how and why do we judge who 'deserves' it and should we be making any judgements at all? Are we so blind to the human disasters that are happening every single day, that in comparison, can make a Tsumani seem small?
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