Background
Since war broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998, more than five million people have died—most of them from lack of access to food and health care. And though the conflict officially ended in 2003, fighting has continued, mainly in the country’s eastern provinces.
Last updated December 2009
Today, the humanitarian situation in eastern Congo is among the worst in the world, despite the country’s vast natural wealth and an historic election in 2006 that allowed people to vote freely for their leaders for the first time.
The facts
• More than 1 million people have fled their homes since the start of 2009
• Nearly half a million Congolese are now refugees in neighboring countries
• An estimated 5.4 million have lost their lives since 1998, most of them from preventable diseases
• One in three children are not able to go school
• Malnutrition is widespread and there is a serious lack of healthcare
While the elections were an important development for the country, they could not fix all of Congo's problems The illegal exploitation of mineral wealth, the weak state authority across large parts of the east, and armed groups taking advantage of this vacuum have helped fuel ongoing conflict. And with porous borders, weapons flow into the country with ease.
This has fed cycles of violence, with civilians both caught in the crossfire and directly targeted by a range of armed groups. This long-term instability and insecurity has left much of eastern DRC with almost no modern infrastructure, virtually no industry, and limited opportunities for education and jobs. The resulting poverty further fuels the violence, by giving many young men an economic incentive to take up arms.
The fighting continues
In late 2008, a new surge of fighting exploded around Goma in the eastern province of North Kivu, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. One year later, the situation in the region has grown worse, the result of a UN-backed Congolese military operation against a militia known as the FDLR. The offensive, intended to disarm the militia, has led to a massive increase in violence against civilians, carried out by all sides, including deadly attacks by the Congolese army and revenge raids by the FDLR.
Though the operation has the support of the US, France, and the UK, it has triggered widespread suffering. Since the initiative was launched in January, 2009, there have been:
• More than 1,000 civilians killed
• About 7,000 women and girls raped
• More than 6,000 homes burned to the ground
• Approximately 900,000 people displaced
Oxfam believes that all militia groups, including the FDLR, must disarm, but the current strategy is failing: The trauma civilians are bearing is out of all proportion to the number of combatants who have been disarmed.
In northern Congo, new waves of suffering are now afflicting villagers as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which was originally from northern Uganda, intensifies the violence.
