1. Home
  2. Africa
  3. DRC

Conflict deadliest since World War II - aid agency

[DRC] Displaced people in Drodro Lucy Hannan
War-displaced in DRC
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has cost more lives than any other since World War II, the New York-based aid agency, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a report released on Tuesday. In a survey carried out between August 1998, when the war began, and November 2002, the IRC estimated that at least 3.3 million Congolese died. The agency said its study showed the mortality rate in the DRC to be higher than UN reports for any other country in the world. George Rupp, the president of the IRC, said: "This is a humanitarian catastrophe of horrid and shocking proportions. The worst mortality projections in the event of a lengthy war in Iraq, and the death toll from all the recent wars in the Balkans, don't even come close. Yet the crisis has received scant attention from international donors and the media." The IRC said it was able to measure mortality among 9.3 million people in 10 districts in eastern DRC, and among 31.2 million in 10 districts in the west. Its findings showed that 30,000 "excess deaths" occurred every month in the ongoing conflict. Most of these deaths were attributed to easily treatable diseases and malnutrition, and were often linked to displacement and the collapse of the country's health services and economy. In eastern DRC, the IRC noted, health conditions were worse than in the west, with children under five particularly vulnerable. A survey carried out in three of the 10 areas in the east visited by the IRC found that more than 50 per cent of children under five died before the age of two years. However, the IRC said the rate of violent death in eastern DRC dropped dramatically in 2002, compared to the three previous years. The IRC called for "a diplomatic and humanitarian response in proportion to the magnitude of the crisis" in the DRC. The full report can be found on the IRC's website at www.theirc.org/index.cfm?section=news&wwwID=1704

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Get the day’s top headlines in your inbox every morning

Starting at just $5 a month, you can become a member of The New Humanitarian and receive our premium newsletter, DAWNS Digest.

DAWNS Digest has been the trusted essential morning read for global aid and foreign policy professionals for more than 10 years.

Government, media, global governance organisations, NGOs, academics, and more subscribe to DAWNS to receive the day’s top global headlines of news and analysis in their inboxes every weekday morning.

It’s the perfect way to start your day.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian today and you’ll automatically be subscribed to DAWNS Digest – free of charge.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join