Crisis in Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains a country in turmoil years after the end of the 1998-2003 civil war and various other localised conflicts since. As rebel groups continue to clash in the eastern provinces, ordinary civilians are still experiencing unimaginable suffering on a daily basis, with the province of North Kivu being the worst affected. The Democratic Republic of Congo now has the larger number of displaced persons in Africa with a total of 4.5 million.
The International Rescue Committee estimates that 5.4 million people lost their lives in the DRC in the period between 1998 and 2008 and that some 45,000 people continue to die every month due to malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia, malnutrition and other preventable diseases. The numbers are staggering and make the Congo conflicts the deadliest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.