The first issue of the Lancet for 2006 has published another random household survey of excess deaths since the beginning of conflict until 2004. It shows that lack of simple infrastructure has caused death and suffering almost beyond comprehension.
New Scientist reports:
“[D]uring the six years covered by the study, some 3.9 million people had died above and beyond normal death rates.
It is the worst humanitarian crisis in the past 60 years, says Richard Brennan, the IRC’s health director. “In terms of absolute numbers,� he says, “there’s nothing that comes close.�
… pervasive violence and instability prevents farmers from tilling their fields, markets from getting food to the hungry, and clinics from providing basic healthcare and vaccines
Mr Brennan refers, not to Iraq, but the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The history, economy and geo-politics of this country probably seems like a familiar story to many readers. It’s certainly not unique in its transition of governance from well meaning, but brutal colonialism to the dark side of globalised, ‘free’ markets. For example:
“Our gold is a curse. I lost my family when militias fought for it,” says Pascal Kalabo, 36, a miner who dives into 18-metre deep holes to fish out gold ore. “And now I have to dig it up so I can live.”
A figure like 3.9 million1 only makes sense in a much broader context - the Hobbesian state of nature the Congo seems to be perpetually in; the tribal beliefs of soldiers; the ‘efficiency’ of modern technologically driven markets, and, of course, the apathy of other governments.
But perhaps I’m wrong to even speak of effects at all, let alone a number like 3.9 million - and I eagerly await a Timbalanche of denialists to reassure me that someone does care enough to get it right. Or wrong.
Update: The Danish branch of MSF International is currently promoting a photographic exhibition entitled “The Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Forgotten War”. The haunting picture is of a prostitute called Solange who shares a 6m^2 living, eating and working space - including servicing customers - with eight others, including two children.
The exhibition will openclose in Vesterbro, Copenhagen on 22 January and will be travelling to Australia later in 2006.
You can give to the Australia branch of MSF here. And while you’re at it, throw a couple of bucks our way too 
- For the record, the figure of 3.8 million was published by Guardian at the end of 2004, probably based on initial, pre peer-reviewed findings[back]
Thanks, dk.au, that’s extremely interesting. No doubt the RWDBs will be dancing for joy that they have another year or so’s worth of debunking on the graves of the
IraqiCongolese dead. Perhaps they’ve honed their statistical skills in the interim between the two papers?Just provokin…
Perhaps… though the IRC team didn’t the release the paper alongside any major elections, and it hasn’t been picked up in the MSM so I don’t think we’ll be hearing innumerate ruminations about dartboards this time.
No, it can’t be fitted into some sort of “Bush haters lie” frame.
Mark
More telling is why haven’t we really known about this unil now? I wasn’t aware of this until now and I bet most people reading the dailies wouldn’t be either.
Did you know about this? How?
In fact it shows the opposite of your provikin comment. It demonstrates that the focus on death tolls appear on the front pages only when the US is involved. No?
Yes - I knew about it because I give money to Medecins Sans Frontieres and they’ve been keeping donors appraised of the situation. They currently have an appeal for their work in infant health in the DRC.
And yes, it’s a great tragedy that such situations aren’t accorded the coverage they deserve. If they were, perhaps there would be some pressure from the public for the West to do something (see also Darfur…).
It’s truly appalling, and it should be pointed out that the Iraqi misadventure has consumed so much of the worlds political energy that stories like this one just fly under the radar and are almost impossible to address until it’s too late. There is so much to do it’s scary.
JC, perhaps it’s escaped your notice, but Australia is also involved in Iraq.
Phil
You’re collecting the prize. I had a small gift or the first person the somehow conflate this as the US’s fault. You won.
Front page real estate or for that matter the first 12-15 pages of the NY Times that are supposed to be devoted to foregn reporting is not all about Iraq. In other words why hasn’t it made the MSM?
I think the truth as to why it hasn’t been reported is more boring than that. Journalists are not going to an African hell hole unless they have some form of protection and there is a decent hotel of some international standard, which they can use as a base. They want a shower, ok food and if male journalists are traveling alone a chance at having safe sex without the risk of infection with female indigs. If the foreign editor can’t deliver they would rather stay at home or simply go to Iraq where at least being imbedded means they are protected.
Quite a splatter, jc. Why do you say that the Congo is a ‘hell hole’ without modern amenities? It’s the size of Western Australia - a mighty big ‘hole’ - and Zuji lists two nice looking hotels in Kinshasa alone. I imagine they need swanky places to put up all those important mining executives.
Are you for real JC? Where did I say it was America’s fault? Iraq is a global problem now full stop. As a result much political energy not to mention money is expended in dealing with the fallout from this ill advised war.
There is no conflation even though there is a connection as far as global priorities are concerned.
As for your last para on why journos don’t report on a story, well that’s just plain nutty dude.
However in your own weird way you have served to highlight the misallocation of resources I alluded to, even on the small journalistic scale you describe, it shows how Iraq sucks much needed oxygen and resources from other worthwhile stories.
DK
“Why do you say that the Congo is a ‘hell hole’
Mainly beause of the horrendous death count. It is.
The war nerd over at Exile did an expose on the Congo some while ago, which I forgot I had read. It ain’t pretty so caution is advised. However the war nerd does what i consider to be the best war reporting in the world.
Oh, by the way. You’ll like him as he hates Bush and Cheney with vengence.
Exile is, get this, an alternative English written newspaper from Moscow. The War Nerd is their fat “war-correspondent” living in that other stinking hell hole: Fresno California.
Mark, don’t worry the War nerd is always making cracks about his weight problem and how he was drawn to wars because he can never pick up chicks because he is obese.
Here’s the link:
http://www.exile.ru/2003-March-03/war_nerd.html
Phil:
Truth is, the Congo ought to be a UN mission if there ever was one. I am not being a smart alec by asking, but where are they? Should Kofi be all over this or is he too busy pumping gas?
Seriously this is s horrible story.
Mark:
How do we make a donations to the group you are donating to. Can it be earmarked for this?
http://www.msf.org
The above link is for JC.
thanks Zoot
didn’t recognize you with the shades on man. They Oakley’s?
While we are off topic on Oakley’s. I went to two weddings over the past coupla weeks and almost to a man every dude is wearing Oakley’s like Zoot. I don’t see dudes wearing them out on the street on where ever else. Is this some sort of Aussie wedding ritual thingo.? Don’t get it.
jc, please do more reading before mouthing off again
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/monuc/
Joe, on the issue of MSF, they rang me recently (I regularly donate $35 a month) and indicated that they were seeking dedicated donations for their work in the DRC. I’m sure if you follow the link to their website I posted above, there’ll be information - or else you could give them a call. They’re nice folks who do fantastic work around the world.
Personally I always wear Raybans.
though I appreciate your desire to give to MSF. I think it’s one of the most constructive things people like us can do.
JC I refer you back to my comments on the whoosing sound of oxygen evaporating from the political sphere, and yes I will conflate America with Iraq and also the UN and Congo and I will blame the Americans, the Americans neutered the oganisation (UN), nobbling it with power plays about oil for food corruption and sexual escapades and distracting it from it core mission by tying it down in procedure - there are many other older historical examples of this. It did this because it sees any strong multinational group as a threat to it’s projection of power as would any similar imperialistic power. Witness Kyoto etc….etc….
It also appointed such wonderful characters as John Negroponte and John Bolton as it’s reprentatives, men not exactly sympathetic to the UN’s mission, to really stuff the organisation. Kofi is up to his arse in alligators trying to save the organisation from the Americans and the UN’s endemic and myriad other problems related to it’s now useless and less than democratic structure.
Of course I also blame all member nations, many of who are stone carrying kettles and pots living in glass houses.
The Congo is representative of the UN’s uselesssness but also of the biggest doner nation and most powerful country’s well targeted attempts to destroy it’s capabilities.
Now where is my prize? A pony perhaps?
I did know about this at the time the COW went into Iraq, but not in any detail, and thought about it in terms of the Bushies’ cock-eyed priorities.
Last Friday night late I heard a news item on the BBC via Newsradio highlighting the 38,000 per month still dying as a result of the conflict. Please note that the UN has 17,000 peace-keepers, but it’s a big place and has a population of about 60m.
The Quick Guide to the war link from the BBC article is worth a look. Apparently the trigger for the war was the Rwanda genocide in 1994. It involved interference from the armies of 7 foreign countries at its height. Rich in natural resources it seems some of its neighbours were happy to hop in a loot.
Phil, I share your frustrations about the paper tiger that the ‘international community’ almost always turns out to be, at least when it matters - Rwanda, Darfur, Congo. The UN is a collection of member states. The national interests of those states will often mess with meaningful intervention (eg. Rwanda and the US Presendential election). MONUC has a very specific mandate, and a limited budget. US$980m sounds like a lot, but considering the lack of infrastructure, population size, geography and history it can’t turn the country around.
On the one hand I disagree that “The Congo is representative of the UN’s uselesssness but also of the biggest doner nation and most powerful country’s well targeted attempts to destroy it’s capabilities.” because this conflict began in 1998, as Brian mentions, largely as a result of neighbouring strife - before Bolton and the COW Iraq fiasco. On the other hand, the COW doctrine doesn’t make it any easier to align national interests with humanitarian concerns directly, which is why the work of NGOs are so vital and so honourable.
So here we are talking about how horrible things are in an African state and implying somehow that globalisation has something to do with it.
I was fortunate enough to spend some years living in Africa and have utter contempt for anyone that thinks throwing money at the problem will fix it (such as the Live8 waste of time).
The major issues are tribalism, corruption and resource conflict (partly due to over population, as well as poor farming techniques). People need to understand that when one tribe takes power it literally owns everything and when an African President refers to things such as “my airport” he literally means it in the same sense as you and I would say “my house” or “my car”. The tribe in power will then try and wipe out their opponents, which is entirely in keeping with how they’ve been going about things for the last umpteen centuries.
Corruption, of course, is endemic. Again, we think of corruption as being a backhander for doing a political favour or two large companies conspiring to fix prices but in Africa it means paying the clerk behind the desk extra money so that you’ll get your driver’s license on time, paying the policeman who pulls you up and suggests you were speeding and so on. Politicians and public officials outright steal aid funds for their own - Zimbabwe is instructive in this regard. It’s a very different world.
In order to assist them we, the rich nations, need to make sure that we give them NO direct money. None. It only ends up being diverted. We need to only undertake development projects where our people are project managing and we need to tie aid to democratic reforms, at which point we can then give them greater access to markets.
Until that time we should expect to see many more stories of human misery come from the Dark Continent.
Cheers
Jack
Jack Lacton:
Thanks for concise explanation. Flinging money at a problem often exacerbates it ….all with the best intentions of course. What can be done though? (No, AusAID mightn’t be the optimal answer).