By Georgianne Nienaber

If 6 million people were killed or simply vanished off the face of the Earth, you might expect an immediate international outcry, in-depth analysis of this humanitarian catastrophe. You’d expect story to be on the front page of every newspaper and magazine in the world. You’d expect broadcast and photojournalists to take every opportunity to document this story.
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This story has already happened in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and there has been no such outcry. This atrocity is surrounded by silence.

Responsible journalists have a duty to not only explore the reasons behind this loss of life, but to also question the “why” behind the lack of journalistic diligence and honesty in covering what is happening in the Congo today. Read more>>

KINSHASA (Reuters) - A humanitarian plane carrying 17 passengers and crew that went missing in east Democratic Republic of Congo has crashed into a mountain and there is no sign of survivors, the contracting air company said on Tuesday.

Rescuers spotted the wreckage early on Tuesday of the 19-seat Beechcraft aircraft, contracted by Air Serv International, around 15 km (nine miles) northwest of the town of Bukavu, on Congo's eastern border with Rwanda.

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The International Center for Transitional Justice, the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley and the Payson Center for International Development at Tulane University conducted a survey of 2,620 Congolese between September and December 2007. The study focused North and South Kivu, Ituri, Kinshasa, and Kisangani. The results of the survey were predictable but shocking nonetheless. A summary of the survey revealed:

• 80 percent of respondents said they had been displaced at least three times in the last 15 years
• 75 percent said their cattle or livestock had been stolen
• 66 percent said their home had been destroyed or confiscated
• 61 percent of those polled in the east said they witnessed the violent death of a family member or friend
• 60 percent said one more of their household members had disappeared
• 34 percent said they themselves had been abducted for more than a week
• 53 percent reported being forced to work or being enslaved by armed groups
• 31 percent said they had been wounded in fighting
• 35 percent said they had been tortured
• 46 percent had been threatened with death
• 23 percent had witnessed sexual violence
• 16 percent had been sexually violated and 12 percent multiple times
• 85 percent of people polled believe "those responsible for the violence should be held accountable"

In North Kivu, at the epicenter of the violence, responses to the question "who protects you" were quite revealing. Respondents answered God (44 percent), the army (25 percent), the police (8 percent), nobody (7 percent), U.N. peacekeepers (6 percent).

Click here to read complete 60 page study.

At the age of 17, I was sad to leave the Congo but happy to be alive. My family and I left a few days before the second invasion of the Congo began. With only four outfits in my luggage, I thought to myself "What is going to happen to my country?"
I lived in Kinshasa 1996 when the Rwanda invasion first happened and, I could only imagine how things would get worse.

I took peace from the fact my siblings and parents made the trip with me.

The purpose of the Break the Silence Congo Week is to raise awareness about the devastating situation in the Congo and mobilize support on behalf of the people of the Congo. It will take place from Sunday October 19 to Saturday October 25. The key organizers are students from North Carolina A&T, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Greensboro, University of Maryland, Howard University, Bowie University, and Cornell University.

Why should Americans care about the Congo? As Senator Brownback stated "Almost every American owns at least one device in which coltan has been used." American corporations have been making billions off the people of the Congo.

Read more>>

The BBC World Service is running a series on Congo's health infrastructure. Dr. mwamba made the most salient point when he noted "If we had people who were really patriotic it would be different.", He goes on to say "But until now we have just had people scrabbling for positions to make money."

The ultimate key to good health is good governance and Congolese patriots both of which are woefully lacking in the current leadership in the Congo. A new day will come however.

Read entire article and follow the BBC Series.

Rwandan president, Paul Kagame lashes out against the International Criminal Court (ICC). His critiques of the ICC -primarily that poor nations are disproportionately targeted- are on point. However, one cannot help but point out that Kagame has deep self-interest in lashing out against the ICC. The two cases against him in both French and Spanish courts for his role in the 1994 assassination of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, which unleashed the orgy of Hutu-Tutsi killings in Rwanda remains of concern. In addition, his two invasions of Congo in 1996 and 1998 that triggered the deaths of nearly 6 million people must be hanging over his head. Rwanda should certainly be wary, considering that the International Court of Justice has already ruled that Congo is entitled to $10 billion in reparations from Uganda because of the human rights abuses and the looting of Congo's resources during its participation in the 1996 and 1998 invasions. Rwanda is even more culpable in the Congo than Uganda but because they are not party to the International Court of Justice, no ruling can be brought against Rwanda by the Congo.

Should Kagame's US patrons decide to let him loose at some point in the future, he will be left to the devices of the levers of international justice. Nonetheless, his stance against the ICC cannot sit well with those humanitarian and policy institutions in Washington that have defended his past and current actions in the Congo, especially seeing that many of these institutions and policy analysts would love nothing more than to have the scalp of Sudan's President Omar Bashir's.

Read entire article of Kagame's outburst against the ICC.

U.S. Backs U.N. Official in Darfur Indicted in Rwanda Deaths

Over the past few weeks many experts have weighed in on the happenings at the International Criminal Court (ICC). From the arrest of former presidential candidate and Congolese senator Jean Pierre Bemba to the release and appeal of Thomas Lubanga, analysts have voiced their concerns about the fairness or lack thereof of the process that leads the court to decide who is charged and prosecuted.

Many Congolese for example, believe the arrest of Jean Pierre Bemba was politically motivated, particularly seeing that he was charged for crimes in the Central African Republic that were committed while he was participating in a peace conference in South Africa. Moreover, warrants issued against Bosco Ntaganda of the Laurent Nkunda's National Council for the Defense of the People (CNDP)have not been followed through on, even Nkunda himself has warrants issued against him by the Congolese government for crimes against humanity but he appears to benefit from the protection of Rwanda and the West.

Concern has also been raised that Africa is being used as a laboratory for the ICC while more powerful nations such as Russia, China or the US will never see their soldiers brought before the court. Find out more about the debate:

When peace and justice collide (Financial Times)

DR Congo war crimes accused Lubanga kept in detention: court (AFP)

ICC approach risks peacemaking in Darfur (The Guardian)

International Criminal Court’s Trial of Thomas Lubanga “Stayed” (Human Rights Watch)

Brent Stirton provides an in depth interview on NPR's Fresh Air. Below are some highlights and salient points from his interview regarding the conflict in the Congo.

--No conservation authority has been operating in this sector
--Stirton notes that "General Nkunda is all about the appropriation of land." Only through support from Rwanda is Nkunda able to be in the Virunga National Park.
--Just over 700 surviving mountain gorillas in the world today
--In order to resolve the conflict that threatens the Gorillas, certain guarantees need to be made by the Rwandan government
--US State Department can put proper pressure on the Rwandan government to resolve the conflict in the Congo through dialogue

Listen to entire interview with Brent Stirton on Fresh Air

Gorilla Industry Exposed (Again) in Central Africaby Georgianne Nienaber

Are USAID Gorilla Conservation Funds Being Used To support Covert Operations in Central Africa
by Georgianne Nienaber and Keith Harmon Snow

Today would have been Patrice Lumumba's 83rd birthday. Although the Congo is still in the clutches of the enemies of the people of the Congo, hope springs abound that change will come. The people are as driven and focused as ever to realize Lumumba's dream of a Congo free and liberated.

Read more about Lumumba here>>

Today, June 30, 2008, Congo celebrates its 48th year of independence from Belgium. However, for all intents and purposes Congo has not been independent since 1885 when it was given to King Leopold II as his own personal property at the Berlin Conference.

The central question that has dogged the Congo for the past 120 years remains; that is who will control and benefit from Congo's spectacular wealth. Today, Congo remains under tutelage as a result of the West's neo-colonial and/or neo-liberal dictates.

One day and one day soon, the sons and daughters of Congo will be free and liberated.