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Sun 6 Apr, 2003 10:46 am
The Congo has been a infamously violent place for years. Peace talks were starting last week, but on the eve of these talks, a thousand congolese were slaughter (so say the locals). Hospitals saw 49 with gunshot and machete wounds - they were the survivors of the massacre.
The fighting is between farmers over land-rights..... where's the international uproar here!?!?
A 1000 dead
This is horrible, littlek. How many must die before our newspapers bother to report it?
I don't know. But, in doing research for the Asia and Africa forums here on a2k, I've being peering more and more into the pool of denial. Lots of stuff happening in the world that we opt to ignore. And, I haven't even looked into S America lately.
Does the Congo have any oil? No? There's your reason.
Doh! Of course.... and all the diamonds are in southern africa?
My first memories of hearing about the Congo were from about 40 years ago (OK, I was really young then). The country had just become independent, and various factions were trying to rule. Patrice Lumumba was perceived to be Soviet-backed, and before too long, was killed. Sad to know that that kind of violence still goes on there...
Background knowledge:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/zrtoc.html
(BTW, it cannot be said congo has no petroleum reserves, according to pages in the link above.)
Also read today that the casualties may be fewer than originally thought....
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