"Emergency for Congo Church after Recent Violence" -- An Episcopal Public Policy Network Alert

**EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE EPISCOPAL PUBLIC POLICY NETWORK**: Conflict in the Congo Strands Bishop and Church Delegates. Tell President Bush to Increase Pressure on Parties to Sign Peace Agreement

Late last week, a rebel uprising in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo stranded Bishop Henri Isingoma and 150 delegates to an Anglican Church diocesan synod meeting in the town of Boga. This came on the heels of a fresh wave of violence that has forced thousands of people from their homes in Africa's third largest country, where two wars and subsequent fighting have claimed more than four million lives since 1994.

President Bush and his Administration must continue to push, as they did at the UN last month, for an end to the violence.

Rebel attacks in northern Congo have intensified in recent weeks, largely in response to violence perpetrated by the northern-Uganda-based Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), whose long campaign of violence in Uganda has reverberated to other countries in the region, particularly the DR Congo, the Central African Republic, and the Sudan. Late last month, 90 school children in the northern Congo were abducted by the LRA and tens of thousands were displaced from their homes as a result of increased attacks. According to Frederick Ngadjole, liaison officer for the Anglican Church in the Congo, people have been forced "to run for their dear lives in various directions."

The Anglican delegates from Bukiringi have returned to their homes following the attacks. However, many found that their houses and community institutions had been raided and looted – some for the fourth or fifth time. According to one report shared with the Episcopal Church Center, "The remaining delegates from the Gety/Isura/Aveba area have traveled with Bishop Isingoma and other delegates on the road west to Eringeti, using three vehicles and five motorbikes. They slept on the road last night and the road is in a very bad state."

WHAT ONE DO
The present wave of violence that has affected the Anglican Church and many other Congolese in recent weeks is a product of instability brought on by the Uganda-based Lord's Resistance Army, which has waged a two-decade campaign of war, abduction, and terror in northern Uganda. The LRA and the Ugandan government have been in the final stages of peace negotiations for many months, but progress at the moment appears stalled. President Bush met last month at the United Nations with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and discussed the LRA Conflict.

Click here to send a message to the President urging his Administration to follow up on that meeting by working with the UN and regional governments to advance peace negotiations, protect civilians, and develop a strategy for bringing the leaders of the LRA to justice.

"Why They're Dying in the Congo" -- BBC World Service

BBC World Affairs Correspondent Mark Doyle explores why over five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the past decade.

Part I - Listen (23 min.) streaming from BBC World website

Part I -- download mp3 podcast

Part II - Listen (23 min) streaming from BBC World website

Part II - download mp3 podcast

Statistics from aid agency The International Rescue Committee show mortality rates in Congo to be significantly higher than other sub-Saharan African countries. Mark finds out why DRC is arguably suffering the world's deadliest crisis since World War II.

Violent conflict is one cause. The armies of half a dozen African states have become involved in the region and the UN has its largest peacekeeping force there - but the vast majority of deaths are caused by treatable conditions such as malaria and malnutrition.

Mark travels by boat up the River Congo to visit villages in the west of the country, and drives through the war-ravaged agricultural communities of the east, near the volatile border with Rwanda. He comes across a number of mothers in the towns and villages, every one of whom has experienced the death of a child. Many have lost more than one.

The two part documentary features Congolese health personnel, fishermen and farmers.

Doyle meets the doctor who runs the Accident and Emergency department of the country's biggest hospital - but who does not have a single bandage to treat a newly-arrived road-crash victim. "It hurts me", says the doctor; "I am helpless".

"The Worst Place on Earth" -- NBC's Ann Curry reporting from the DR Congo

Last week, the Today Show's Ann Curry did some amazing and critical reporting from what very well may be the world's most dangerous place -- the DR Congo. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is home to the deadliest war in the world today. An estimated 5.4 million people have died since 1998, the largest death toll since the Second World War, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

IRC reports that as many as 45,000 people die each month in the Congo. Most deaths are due to easily preventable and curable conditions, such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, malnutrition, and neonatal problems and are byproducts of a collapsed healthcare system and a devastated economy.

Take a few minutes and watch this report about the situation there. Then go to the Today Show website to see and learn more, including an slideshow exploring the political, cultural and historical issues surrounding the crisis in Congo.



What Can One Person Do? For starters you can keep getting informed. One of the best ways to do this is the New York Times' "country page" on DR Congo (This is a great way to keep informed on any country of interest). Also read the International Rescue Committee's special report on Congo.

Then you can support organizations like these who are providing critical aid to the Congolese people:

Doctors Without Borders

Women for Women International