Congo: the world’s worst conflict

HAVING just returned from Oxfam Ireland’s programme in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), I have been struck by something extraordinary. Amid all the discussion on the Lisbon Treaty, I noted little if any talk about the fate of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

The humanitarian situation in eastern Congo is one of the worst in the world.

More than 5.4 million people — equivalent to the entire population of Ireland — have died since the war started in 1998, the majority from lack of access to food or healthcare.