Comments on: 5.4 million dead in Congo. Believe it or not, it could have been worse.

By: Gino Van de Walle

Gino Van de Walle — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:09:33 +0000

When will the politians of the world finally stop talking and start taking some serious action in order to make an end to this cruelty? It’s also time for a change in that region!
http://ginovandewalle.com/the-worlds-need-to-help-eastern-congo-now-this-cruelty-must-stop/

By: Saheli

Saheli — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:47:21 +0000

Thanks for the reality check Ethan. Sad, but better than not knowing.

By: quixote

quixote — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:15:36 +0000

The objections to the Lancet study that are made on methodological grounds are laughable. As a professional biologist for decades, with some familiarity with the techniques and statistics in question, the Lancet study relied on methods in widespread use in epidemiology. How does anyone think it would otherwise get into a peer-reviewed journal with Lancet’s standing? The same methodology has been used to estimate excess deaths in the Darfur region, for instance.

Some of the confusion seems to arise because people think the studies are about violent deaths. No, they’re about all excess deaths, from whatever cause. A woman who dies in childbirth because she cannot reach a hospital due to roadblocks, for instance, would be an excess death. Someone who dies in a mugging because the criminal had no means of livelihood due to war is also an excess death, a violent one in this case, but not directly stemming from a war action.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:53:35 +0000

It’s hard for me to be too optimistic, Saheli. There have been a lot of talks, a lot of ceasefires, a lot of turning points in the conflict. What struck me about the release of the IRC report is that the death rate is still profound in DRC after elections took place… which was the event we were all celebrating a bit more than a year ago. I sincerely hope this current peace holds, but I certainly wouldn’t lay bets on it. Until someone holds the international actors behind these rebel groups accountable and until the DRC government is able to control their borders and territory, there’s simply so many riches in eastern DRC that it’s hard to believe that any peace will hold permanently.

By: Saheli

Saheli — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:45:19 +0000

Ethan, I was actualy looking for commentary from you on this news story I heard on NPR this morning– a Peace Deal struck in the Congo. I was deeply struck by how uniquely optimistic the piece sounded—I couldn’t remember the last time I heard a radio piece on a war or a peace deal that seemed to go looking for pessimists and not actually find any. I was also deeply struck by the intense aural sensation of sincereity and celebration—an easy enough illusion to create (even accidentally) in radio, but very rare on Morning Edition regarding these sorts of topics. I haven’t been following the story (I plead guilty!) more than once a year or so, and hadn’t realized peace talks were in progress. Any comment?

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:00:55 +0000

With Iraq, there was many people in the west (almost exclusively USA) with ideological reasons to invent pretexts to undermine the Lancet survey.

But while the eastern DRC was also subject to a fake “liberation” that caused chaos, destruction and mass death (both direct and indirect), it wasn’t nearly as publicized so the ideologues in Kampala and Kigali feel no pressure to defend their actions.