D.R. Congo > Country Background and Current Challenges
The first civil and regional war in D.R. Congo began in 1996, followed by a second internal and regional conflict that started in August 1998. A peace agreement was signed in South Africa in April 2003, and a transitional government was put in place in June of that year, lasting until the presidential elections in 2006. However, progress has not been felt by the majority of the population.
The situation in the east, where the population has been traumatised by tribal clashes, will take many years to normalise. An estimated 30,000 children have been involved in the fighting,[1] and women have been raped on a wide scale. In fact, the number of female victims of rape in eastern DRC is so significant that Jan Egeland, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, has called it “a cancer in Congolese society that seems to be out of control,” adding that nearly all the women he spoke to on a trip to DRC in late 2006 had been raped.[2]
A recent mortality survey carried out by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) claims that war, disease, and malnutrition area are killing 45,000 Congolese every month in this conflict-driven humanitarian crisis, which has claimed 5.4 million victims in nearly a decade. Most of these deaths are due to easily treatable and preventable diseases through the collapse of health systems.[3]
The U.N. (MONUC) is a major player in helping with the disarmament process, and ensuring some security in Ituri. Their efforts are increasingly reinforced by the Congolese National Army, but this latter group have created problems of their own, linked to their often inappropriate attitudes towards the local population.
It is still too early to say how quickly the country will be well-established in a stable and peaceful phase, and how long it will take for the local population to have real economic capacity to improve their situation. The local communities in the east of the county will need international assistance for a number of years. In brief, it is still a very vulnerable situation that could worsen again, and the general population faces a high level of needs.
[1] Amnesty International,
www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR62/017/2006/en/dom-AFR620172006en.html
[2]Jan Egeland , UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=61096[3] www.theirc.org/resources/2007/2006-7_congomortalitysurvey.pdf