we are trying to raise awareness about a war that started in the democratic republic of the congo (DRC) in 1998.a few statistics:1) 35% of the congo's army is made up of children (child soldiers), who are drugged and forced to kill their friends and family. these kids are mentally and physically affected by this... never in a good way.2) there is an average of 40 REPORTED rapes PER DAY. rape victims range from infants to elderly women. thier husbands, brothers and other male family members are usually forced to watch or participate. their are probably at least twice as many UNreported rapes per day. in many regions nearly every woman has been raped.3) some of the UN peacekeepers held contests to see how many women they could rape. these peacekeepers were FINED ONLY FIVE DOLLARS. in the US you can be sentanced to death for committing rape.4) george bush sr. had the cia assassinate the first democratically elected leader the DRC ever had. bush had the congolese president assinated because he was trying to prevent american companies from exploiting the congo's resources and sided with the soviets in the cold war; not great reasons. mobutu sese seku was then apointed president and was allowed to use the congolese treasury as his personal bank acount and commit many many other crimes because the US closed thier eyes to his crimes.5) currently the war with the most deaths other than WW2, between THREE and FIVE MILLION DEATHS SINCE THE WAR STARTED IN 1998. there has always been a lot of conflict in the congo, ever since it was colonized in the 1400's and since then there have been over TWENTY MILLION DEATHS.keep reading.although the war only started about eight years ago, the citizens have never had control of their country, paticuarly natural resources, since the country was colonized by belgium in the 1400’s.
there are many reasons why the war started, one being the rwandan genocide. many people have heard of the horrors there, but what they are not aware of is that millions of refugees from rwanda fled to the DRC. The extremists followed, which created mass panic in the Congo. the rwandan army tried to intervene, but ended up exploiting the rich natural resources of congo such as diamonds, cobalt, rubber, and gold. many people in the congo have taken advantage of the citizens there, and basically enslave the children, make them mine for cobalt during the day, and give them a meal or two in return. this is seen as a huge opportunity by the congolese children because they have no other way to get food.
since the war in the congo started in 1998, between three and five million people have died; it’s the war with the most deaths since world war II and these deaths are just in one country. there have also been brutal rapes and beatings. there are an average of 40 reported rapes per day. many more go unreported, because the victims are scared to report the rapes. there has also been a severe amount of the use of child soldiers. about thirty five percent of the DRC’s army is made up of child soldiers;the children are drugged and then forced to kill their friends and families. the war officailly ended in 2003, but the violence and explotation still continues today despite carious peace treties.
you would think a large war like this would be recognized, or at least countries would be sending aid. But no, there is no media coverage, and no aid. the UN sent many peacekeepers to the congo a few years ago, however, instead of doing their jobs, the peacekeepers had contests to see how many women they could rape. they were later fined five dollars, a ridicuously small fine for such a crime. MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission to the Congo has not committed acts liek this recently, but peacekeepers abiltites to help are so restricted they cant do much to help. when george bush sr. was president, we were exploiting the congo’s natural resources. when the congolese president tried to stop us, the CIA killed him.
so many other african countries with conflicts have been given the media coverage they deserve, but the congo has not been given anything. most of the the problems you see on the news have spread into the congo, making thier situation worse.
you could HELP SPREAD THE WORD and put an end to the violence. tell your friends to add us. soon we will be holding a fund raiser to aid the congo.
