Population "decimated" by war

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has warned that the DRC war is "decimating the population at a rate previously unrecognised". In a news release announcing the results of a mortality study, IRC found that since August 1998 there had been a least 1.7 million deaths in war-affected areas "over and above the 600,000 that would normally be expected". "On average, some 2,600 people are dying every day in this war," IRC said. It stressed that the overwhelming majority of these additional deaths were due to preventable diseases and malnutrition. "The loss of life in Congo has been staggering," said IRC president Reynold Levy. "It's as if the entire population of Houston [Texas, US] was wiped off the face of the earth in a matter of months." He called for securing peace and financing humanitarian aid "at much higher levels" to "stem the tide of death". [Click here for full report www.theIRC.org/mortality.htm].