Genocide in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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The Democratic Republic of the Congo, a.k.a. the DRC, or more commonly “the Congo”, has experienced an endless nightmare of violence, poverty, famine, sickness, and murder for the past 16 years. The constant bloodshed between the national and armed forces has led to countless civilian deaths, or the genocide in the Congo. Before I go on any further, I must explain what a genocide is. A genocide is the attempted destruction of an entire group of people. The most famous example is the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were murdered during World War II. It is tragic to say that history has repeated itself and over 5 to 7 million Congolese civilians have lost their lives since 1996. In order to truly understand the events that are transpiring at this very moment, we must look back in the past to the root of this problem, see what is going on at this moment, and try to do something to help stop these atrocities.
According to BBC News, The Congo’s troubles started back in the early 19th century, when Belgium colonized the Congo and enslaved its citizens. It wasn’t until the 1960’s when the Congo finally gained its independence, however Joseph Mobutu came to power in 1965 and let the nation (renamed Zaire) fall apart due to his exploitation of the land’s abundance of natural resources (BBC News). In 1994, the Genocide in Rwanda occurred, were the dominant Hutu extremists slaughtered 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda (ECI). According to the ICRtoP, the exiled Hutu extremists found refuge in Zaire and allied themselves with Mobutu. Rwanda and Uganda later invaded Zaire that year in what was known as the “First Congo War”, resulting in the overthrow of Mobutu, the installment of Laurent-Desire Kabila (who renamed the country to the DRC), and ...

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... and medical supplies. If that is not possible, then we should try to raise awareness of the plight of the Congolese so other people may try to do their part. We might also try to boycott the purchasing of electronic devises (big sacrifice) in protest of the lives that were ended just to make a profit. If enough of us unite, we can make our voice be heard by our government so that they may finally take some real steps to end the genocide in the Congo.

Works Cited

"Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo."Responsibilitytoprotect.org. International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect, 2011. Web. 19 Feb 2014.
Eastern Congo Initiative. Eastern Congo Initiative, 2010. Web. 18 Feb 2014.
“Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Amnesty.org. Amnesty International. Web. 13 Feb 2014.
"Q&A:DR Congo Conflict."bbc.co.uk/news/. BBC News, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Feb 2014.

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