A new report from the International Rescue Committee says the death toll in Congo has risen at an alarming rate: Some 45,000 people die there each month from violence and disease. In the last decade, about 5.4 million people have died—more than five times the number killed in the Darfur region of Sudan and the worst loss of life since World War II. These casualties are the result of civil war, lack of a stable government and the collision of warring factions, including Hutus from neighboring Rwanda. Why hasn’t the genocide in Congo received as much attention as the one in Darfur? “The violence-torn area of Congo is very remote,” says African-affairs expert Stephen Morrison. “With Darfur, the media and other advocates have been able to reach displaced Sudanese relatively easily.”
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