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Eastern Congo: A war on civilians

Published: 14 September 2009

  1. World Vision is continuing its humanitarian assistance to war-displaced people in Eastern Congo, while advocating internationally for the protection of civilians, and a political process to address the root causes of this conflict.
  2. Doctor Kisughu Kamate Louis, Medical Director of Virunga Hospital: "We always have to send someone to get blood from a nearby blood bank," he said. "Sometimes it comes too late."
  3. A boy soldier poses in Minova. Child soldiers are routinely recruited by armed groups in Eastern Congo.
  4. A woman pleads for help in Bunagana, a rebel stronghold 40 kilometres north of Goma.
  5. Eight year old orphan Byamungu watched as his parents were killed by rebels when he was four. He has been running from this war for half of his life.
  6. This 16-year-old widow and her child have survived fierce battles in the hills overlooking the Minova IDP camp, 45kms southwest of Goma. But they are far from safe. Rape is the biggest single threat facing displaced women and girls in Eastern Congo.
  7. Displaced Congolese children at "Camp MONUC". The local IDP population has set up this makeshift camp alongside a base of the UN peacekeeping mission - known as MONUC - hoping for protection from nearby fighting.
  8. At Kibati camp near the provincial capital Goma, thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) await transportion to a safe location. Nearby fighting is posing a threat. Humanitarian organisations are helping IDPs with dire needs.
  9. Renewed conflict between government troops and rebel militias in Eastern Congo has uprooted more than a quarter of a million civilians, including this weary woman.

This powerful photo essay from World Vision Africa, taken by photojournalist Tim Freccia, shows the human face of the ongoing crisis in the Congo. More than a decade of warfare has displaced over a million Congolese, primarily in the east. This is the world's deadliest conflict since World War II, killing an estimated 5.4 million people to date.

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Benj Geerling
Sep 10, 2009

Its always the kids who suffer the most

babalu
May 26, 2009

hi feel so bad the children don't look happy

brittany
May 29, 2009

this is so sad! y these people have to suffer i don't know?

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