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July 24, 2008 at 10:16:50

Headlined on 7/24/08:
DR Congo: Peace Accord Fails to End Killing of Civilians

by Georgianne Nienaber     Page 1 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

 

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There is a human rights crisis that is unfolding today in the Democratic Republic of Congo that requires the attention of all journalists. A photographer working in the region was quoted as saying that ANY journalist, publisher, or news organization that turns their back on this crisis is as guilty of pulling the trigger as any warlord in the region.

Mainstream media is not covering this humanitarian disaster. By some accounts there are at least 800,000 and as many as 1.2 million refugees in Kivu province alone.

After OEN had a conversation with Anneke von Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch in Congo, Friends of the Congo suggested a plan to have a non-celebrity driven independent media group go to DRC, document this crisis and get it out by whatever means possible.

Anyone who reads this has the power to assist in this effort. Please read

Rationale: Since 1996, nearly 6 million people have died in the Congo as a result of conflict and conflict related causes. The United Nations calls the conflict in the Congo the deadliest since World War II. Doctors Without Borders repeatedly ranks the Congo as one of the top ten most underreported stories in the world. In essence, there is a great deal of silence enveloping the tragedy that is the Congo, and when the country does receive coverage from the mainstream media, it is usually inadequate and lacking in substance.


Objective: The objective of this proposal is to secure the necessary resources for a delegation of independent journalists to travel to the Congo to bring attention and perspective to the conflict that causes 45,000 deaths per month. In 12 years of conflict that has resulted in a biblical scale of deaths beyond 5 million souls, we are not aware of any such delegation of journalists covering the situation in the Congo. Therefore this would be a novel and groundbreaking undertaking.

Goals:

1. Organize trip for a group of 10 independent journalists for ten days to travel to the Congo to cover the situation in the country2. Document the source of the conflict


3. Provide a novel view of the heroic struggles being waged by everyday people to overcome enormous obstacles of living in an unstable environment

4. Provide an alternative prism through which the global community views the Congo in the hopes of stimulating a response that will lead to more being done to resolve the Congo crisis.

5. Introduce the enormous range of issues (women & children, human rights, child labor, environment, resource exploitation, endangered species threat, and more) plaguing the Congo, but also explore the unfathomable potential that exists in the Congo should stability and unity be realized.

Needs: Financial and institutional support to facilitate a trip to the Congo. In addition, provide the necessary platform to assure a wide distribution and broad exposure of the reports made by the independent journalists.

Background: Congo is literally and figuratively the heart of Africa. It straddles the equator and is bordered by nine countries. Congo is one of the largest countries in the world with a population of 65 million people and is the size of Western Europe. Congo is the fulcrum on which the African continent swings. It has an illustrious history of famous figures speaking out against the atrocities that have plagued this country since its modern founding. Figures such as Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad and Arthur Conan Doyle have written about the Congo and the evil that men have perpetrated to capture and control Congo’s spectacular wealth of gold, diamonds, rubber, ivory, copper, tin, iron, cobalt, coltan, timber, and a myriad of other riches.

Congo recently held elections in 2006, but it is still very much a country under western tutelage where the interests of the people are not being served in spite of its enormous natural wealth. The average Congolese earn $100 per year and 80 percent of the population live on 30 cents or less per day while billions of dollars escape out the back door of the country to the coffers of foreign multinationals.

The following is the complete text of a press release by Human Rights Watch:

 1  |  2

 

Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse Sense, was re-released in early 2006. Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey was also released in 2006. Nienaber spent much of 2007 doing research in South Africa, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was in DRC as a MONUC-accredited journalist, and recently spent six weeks in Southern Louisiana investigating hurricane reconstruction. She is currently developing a documentary on the Gulf of Mexico DEAD ZONE.

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In 2004, Rady Ananda began contributing to the Web, as part of the growing community of citizen journalists. Focusing mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for lawfirms, and about 5 years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offer...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda began contributing to the Web, as part of the growing community of citizen journalists. Focusing mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for lawfirms, and about 5 years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offer...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Big voices on this:

Chapter 5 of Game as Old as Empire reproduced at The Human Cost of Cheap Cell Phones by Kathleen Kern who served on CPT's investigative team.

Civil strife in the Democratic Republic of Congo has cost 4 million lives in 10 years, as militias and warlords fight over the country's resources. The atrocities are funded, at least indirectly, by some of the biggest Western corporations. They see the country as a source of cheap coltan, vital to making semiconductors. Kathleen Kern connects Congolese suffering with the low prices Westerners pay for cell phones and laptops

And Eve Ensler's Women Left for Dead and the Man Who's Saving Them:

Author of Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler, uses her name and website to publicize and generate funds to impede violence against women in conflict zones. This report details what she found when she visited the Democratic Republic of Congo and spent time with a doctor who treats many of the hundreds of thousands of rape victims. She finds hope amid horror. 

Thanks for providing an action piece, GN.

by Rady Ananda (97 articles, 247 quicklinks, 19 diaries, 705 comments) on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 6:56:12 AM
 


Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Georgianne NienaberGeorgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Racism and Narcissism

At time I posted there were no comments from the OEN community. And the voices coming from OEN readers and writers on this are still non-existent. I get a lot of comments about NOLA and the floods, which are certainly important, but we are talking about 1200 people A DAY dying in DRC!

I think it is racism. Africa is too black for our readers. Yet they seem to love Obama. Obama has no idea what it is to be black and ignored. I think he is a narcissist and just what we do not need for a president. The world will become his perfect victim if he is elected. If the man does not know that Africa is NOT about ethnic conflicts, he has no business even showing up at the Democratic convention.

I don't get it.

by Georgianne Nienaber (145 articles, 46 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 338 comments) on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 7:51:37 AM
 


Margaret Bassett is an 86-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbrums. She hopes to hold out for one more presidential election. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboa...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Margaret BassettMargaret Bassett is an 86-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbrums. She hopes to hold out for one more presidential election. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboa...

to see more of bio, click on member name

I'm here!

Worthless on expeditions farther than doctor's checkups. I'm alive, still.

Seriously, maybe someone will whisper in Barack Obama's ear. Isn't it fair to say political leaders are just as needed as journalists? Obama doesn't have any problem getting media attention.

Thank you, GN. Great article.

by Margaret Bassett (21 articles, 1364 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 824 comments) on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 8:25:16 PM
 


Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Georgianne NienaberGeorgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Margaret

You are a treasure and my mentor.

Check out this comment from Friends of Congo on our narcissist candidate Obama --  his lack of foreign policy understanding is telling and scary...and millions of lives in Congo hang in the balance..

"John McCain's campaign questioned Barack Obama's commitment to stopping genocide. On his visit to Israel Obama proclaimed "never again" referencing the Holocaust. McCain's campaign quickly pounced with a press release saying that if Obama truly believed in "never again" and stopping genocide he would have supported the troop surge in Iraq.

Reporters pointed out a statement made in 2007 by Obama when he said the following: "Well, look, if that's the criteria [genocide or humanitarian crises] by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now - where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife - which we haven't done."
 
Statements such as the above attributed to Obama, explains in part why there is such silence around the tragic situation in the Congo. The conflict is unfortunately and wrongly presented as ethnic bloodletting. The ethnic rationale for the conflict in the Congo, plays into long-held stereotypes that Africans are interminably trapped in "tribal bloodletting," hence, nothing can be done, resolutions are futile and there is little need to talk about the situation or address the issue.
 
The central reason for the nearly six million dead in the Congo since 1996 is not "ethnic strife" but rather the scramble for Congo's enormous treasure trove of diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt, coltan, tin, timber and more. Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai rightly assesses the problem when she notes, "these wars when you look at them, they are all about resources and who is going to control them.""

by Georgianne Nienaber (145 articles, 46 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 338 comments) on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 8:31:35 PM
 


Recently retired activist with an MA in Public Policy from an Ivy League school. A born again believer who also believes in the separation of church and state and is outraged that the Word of the Lord has been highjacked to justify the actions of the current administration.
macdon1Recently retired activist with an MA in Public Policy from an Ivy League school. A born again believer who also believes in the separation of church and state and is outraged that the Word of the Lord has been highjacked to justify the actions of the current administration.

Kenyan to Kenyan

Wangari Maathai should speak to Obama and ask him to comment on the humanitarian tragedy in the Congo. He is half African and he of all people should be sensitive to the tragedies occurring there today.  Indeed, it is all about the vast riches of the continent and extreme greed of those who would exploit them.  Oil, gold and diamonds; for all the evil and suffering they have caused they should have remained in the ground. Africa, mother to us all, my heart breaks for the suffering of your people.

by macdon1 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 91 comments) on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 10:30:29 PM
 


Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Georgianne NienaberGeorgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

for all the evil and suffering they have caused ...

Africa Oh Africa

The land that bore the mother of us all..

we weep for you and for your children...

Does Obama care? I doubt it. The emperor has no clothes and his inherent narcissism is evident. Gods and goddesses help us all. 

by Georgianne Nienaber (145 articles, 46 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 338 comments) on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 10:41:04 PM
 


Peace Studies Degree from Bradford UK before it became just one more arm of the UK Government's Department For International Developments contractor.   
sliphochPeace Studies Degree from Bradford UK before it became just one more arm of the UK Government's Department For International Developments contractor.   

Congo

There is a group in the UK who have toured with a production called "They get free mobiles......don't they?" you might want to look at their website

www.bannertheatre.co.uk

Unfortunately when I went to see the production there were only 20 others, yet next door at least 200 were watching some sport on the TV.

Good luck 

 

by sliphoch (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 24 comments) on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 1:26:52 PM
 

 

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