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TechnoratiNorthern Congo Civilians 'Need Urgent Aid'
Agency says rape, killing and child abduction rife and 40,000 people displaced as Lord's Resistance Army fights military
Relief groups should increase their presence in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help civilians amid an upsurge of fighting between government troops and the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an aid agency said yesterday.
![[Members of the Lord's Resistance Army in Congo. (Photograph: EPA)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/uganda460x276.jpg "uganda460x276.jpg")
The UN estimates that 400,000 people in this remote region of the DRC have fled their homes as the LRA - once based in Uganda
- responded to attacks from Ugandan and Congolese troops by striking
out against civilians. Led by Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the
international criminal court, LRA fighters have looted towns and
villages, abducted hundreds of children, and raped and killed people.
"We are talking about tactics of violence aimed at instilling fear in the people," said Luis Encinas, the co-ordinator of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) operations in central Africa. "Our patients have told us the most brutal stories - about children who are forced to kill their parents and people burnt alive inside their homes."
Civilians increasingly have come under threat since September last year, when Congolese and Ugandan forces moved to crush the last remnants of the LRA after they were driven out of Uganda. The fighting has spilled over into Sudan and the Central African Republic. In response to the LRA's terror tactics, civilians have fled to the main towns, where they are being helped by the local population as best they can and by relief groups such as MSF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Towns such as Gangala and Banda have become enclaves for 20,000 displaced people each as outlying fields and villages are deserted. The humanitarian crisis in the Haut-Uélé district, in north-eastern DRC bears some parallels with that in eastern Congo, where government forces are battling Hutu rebel groups who fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered.
In both regions, the violence against civilians has been a consequence of military attempts to crush an elusive and ruthless rebel force. But the situation in the north has received less media attention than eastern Congo. MSF is making an urgent appeal to the UN and other relief agencies to redeploy staff from the central town of Dungu to outlying areas to stabilise the situation.
"We are saying to other groups: just stay in the outlying areas beyond the main town of Dungu," said Katharine Derderian, MSF humanitarian affairs adviser, who was in northern Congo in July. "Even such a small step could make a huge difference."
In several places, such as Dingila or Niangara, MSF is the only group present despite security concerns. This lack
of security and the absence of roads in some isolated areas means MSF has had to use planes to bring in supplies.
"Delivering humanitarian aid to the people of this region is of course a challenge," Encinas said, "but we believe much more can and must be done to address the consequences of war on the population. Humanitarian organisations should urgently address people's needs in areas that are most affected by the fighting and have so far been neglected."
18 Comments so far
Show AllOne of the axioms among the lib-left these days seems to be that democracy cannot be supplied from the outside and we've no business meddling in the affairs of other peoples.
I disagree with that, for broadly the same reasons I disagree that if we see someone being abused in the street we should presume it's "an internal matter" and walk on by.
Africa has at least its share of psychopaths, and because of all their genocidal efforts, probably many more than their share because they've butchered so many of the peaceful.
We (the industrial, non-African parts of the world) should have a BIG international force in Africa, systematically working to restore peace and self-determination in the continent --if necessary by summarily killing creatures like the LLA members. There are too many people in the world right now; we can surely spare ones like the LLA.
I would agree if we ever got involved for noble reasons. But we don't. We get involved in places like Africa to allow our corporations to steal their resources. We are often the ones supporting the psychopath dictators because they are easy to corrupt and bribe. We assassinate the ones who try to do good for the people like Lumumba, or we implement IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs and burden these countries with crushing debt forcing them to privatize and open access to their resources. If an African country tried to nationalize its resources, we would kill their leader and promptly install a puppet. Africans are capable of coming up with their own solutions if we quit meddling in their affairs.
As far as there being too many people in the world. I would agree. Mostly its too many people in the industrialized world who are depleting resources and burning fossil fuels and ultimately destroying the planet. The people who suffer are the ones who are in poor countries. It would probably take about 25 Sub Saharan Africans to amount to the same carbon foot print of 1 middle class Westerner.
>>I would agree if we ever got involved for noble reasons. But we don't. We get involved in places like Africa to allow our corporations to steal their resources. We are often the ones supporting the psychopath dictators because they are easy to corrupt and bribe
One can dream.
In WW11 Canadians went to Europe to Liberate nations form the Nazis. Canada was not under any direct threat and as I have stated before this war would not have been necessary had the victors of WW1 been less vindictive..BUT.
This was a war that had to be fought.
One of the Countries Canadian troops helped liberate was Holland. Indeed our troops did the bulk of the dirty fighting there.
They went there. They fought the nazis. They died there. They were buried there and after the war was over the Canadians LEFT Holland and went home. They did not demand the right to build Military bases there. They did not demand the right to dictate the type of Governmnet Holland should have. They did not demand that Canadian Corporations have access to Hollands markets. They did not pick the leades of Holland or play a role in designing their Government.
They just went home when Holland could stand on its own.
It would seem an EASY thing to do today so why can we NOT do it? Why do we always have to extract concessions?
If we are DOING the right thing because it the RIGHT thing to do that should be reason enough to do it. We should not have to PROFIT off it.
A few years back a Canadian Veteran of the Campaign in the Netherlands returned for some memorial service to be held there. He got on the right train but his tiocket was incorrect and a rather rude conducter put him off causing the veteran to miss the services. This was reported in in the Dutch newspapers and it lead to a scandal.
Dutch citzens too young to even remember the war were outraged as to how the man treated and the veteran was tracked down in Canada and him and his family were flown to Holland at the expense of that Countries Government.
I am NOT trying to Glorify war here.It a horrific thing. But there ARE times when a Military is needed...such as places like the Congo and Rwanda. What I sam saying is that the TRUE gratitude of the peoples you help should be REWARD enough. We should not demand their wealth and resources.
Carbon isn't everything, though it does sometimes seem that way. There's also what for want of a better term I'll call the 'too many feet' footprint -- the one that causes large-scale die-off from disease and famine in non-human species that overpopulate their habitat, and that's an endemic problem for humans in India particularly.
I can't accept that it's good for humans to fill up all the space in the world, driving other species to extinction through habitat theft and butchery. Nor can I accept that it's okay for humans to manage population pressure by infanticide, war, or indifference.
So, although, as you say, we have rarely gone in somewhere for the benefit of the people living there rather than for the self-interest of our ruling class, that doesn't, mustn't, absolve us from continuing to try. Because if we don't continue to at least *try*, what good are we?
It is this kind of Conflict that the Armed Forces of Canada would once try to intervene in, or at least that the original intent of those designing the policy.
The UN troops that currently go on such missions are poorly trained and poorly led. Countries that take on such missions do so to earn Currency.
I think this the rightful place for true PEACEKEEPING forces.
Canada should pull out of nato and along with other middle level powers focus on this type of conflict.
The LARGER question is how can Africa be stabilized? Force is never a long term solution albeit needed at times to deal with groups like the "Lords resistance army". Will it require a redrawing of maps and borders? Are there enough local groups with the resources and whereithal to turn this around inside Africa without needing foreign troops?
Countries like Botswana seem stable. Can they serve as an example?
These countries seem to have one common theme. Weak Governments that are all but non existant or hopelessly corrupt. While it might be a Libertarians dream it hardly condusive to stable and peaceful societies.
I am a little confused. The title says 40,000 are displaced, while the first paragraphs say that the UN estimates 400,000 are displaced. does anyone have any information on this?
bligh4
My understanding is that 400k is the correct figure- as far as anyone can guess.
If there was one place on earth that the USA military could be put to good use, this is it.
I'm not so sure about that and usually I agree with your posts. (Are you the Glenn Ford on the Black Agenda report? I love that show). I would rather see Africans come up with solutions for African problems. The West has meddled in African affairs for too long with colonialism and proping up corrupt dictators to assure access to their resources (I mean our resources on their land).
Although if you mean using the USA military against the corporations that are raping and plundering the Congo and other African countries, I might be agreeable to that. Then they would be of some use. However, I think we may see more involvement of our military in Africa with AFRICOM, but its not going to be good for Africans but it will be very good for our corporations.
Yes, I have plenty of names. I'll give you some off the top of my head but their are plenty more. Don't believe me, look it up.
Citibank providing funds to rebels in the Congo
Engineering firm Bechtel has strong ties in the rebel zones of the Congo
American Mineral Fields (AMF) and Freeport McMoran exploiting Congo's minerals.
Apple, Microsoft, AT&T, Motorola and just about any electronics maker as they use Coltan and other minerals found abundantly in the Congo
Firestone Tire and Rubber exploiting Liberia.
Hershey and Nestle exploiting Sierra Leone for its Cocoa crops including child slave labor
DeBeers exploitation of blood diamonds
Shell & Chevron in the Niger Delta includes environmental degredation and murder or protestors
Starbucks exploiting Ethiopian coffee farmers
Any weapons manufacturer is happy to provide arms to any 2 bit dictator or rebel group
Western Corporations dumping toxic waste off the coast of Somalia and overfishing their waters.
I believe there is some very bad business involving minerals and rebels.
AK 4:17 I agree . I just would like to see 50,000 paratroopers non violently apprehend the Lords Liberation Army.
Verbalize your dreams.
I am not the Black Agenda Guy, I am the dead movie actor.
bligh4
I can't see endangering the lives of aid workers by sending them to these areas until security has been restored. Unfortunatly, the U.N. is usually less than worthless in establishing security-only being willing to act as "peacekeepers" once security has been establish. They suck at that one too...
I have no doubt that this thread will generate minimum interest on CD, as events in Africa generally do. Maybe if they could tie Israel to the Lords army...
Are you insinuating that israel is picked on?
bligh4
Not insinuating anything. Just pointing out that anything that has to do with Israel generates hundreds of responses, while anything to do with the far more horrific situation in the Congo generates mainly yawns...5 million dead in ten years and counting.
Bligh 12:17 I agree Africa is the silently abused continent.
It just seems that the Lords Liberation Army is in a horrific class of it's own and someone needs to stop it today.