Is the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo newsworthy?

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is our century's greatest and most ignored humanitarian disaster. The nation has been the epicenter of intense insurgent operations for over three decades, producing nothing but pain and damage. Meanwhile, there is a disturbing lack of worldwide media attention and international political and diplomatic measures to address this situation as soon as possible, despite the misery that it inflicts on innocent Congolese. War has killed over 6 million Congolese since 1998.

By not showing these facts and placing such a narrative at the top of daily news, the Western media has chosen to overlook one of the worst crises since World War II. According to Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a textbook case of neglect because those with the power to affect change both inside and outside the country have chosen to ignore the waves of cruel and targeted attacks on civilians that are destroying communities and the potential for development.

In recent weeks, the brutal war between the Congolese armed forces and the M23 rebels supported by some of Congo’s neighboring countries has forced more than 4,000 families to flee the comfort of their homes in the territories of Rutshuru, Nyiragongo, and Masisi to seek relative safety in makeshift tents and completely unsanitary shelters in the Kanyaruchinya camp near Goma. Currently, these families cannot make ends meet in horrific security conditions. They do not have food, shelter, blankets, water, or medicine. Aren’t you surprised that this has not made the news?

In terms of statistics, the Congo tragedy surpasses more well-known natural disasters like the December tsunami in South Asia, as well as man-made horrors like Darfur. Former International Crisis Group communications director Andrew Stroehlein advises that, with so many people killed and so much at stake, it is just unjustifiable that the Congo is not being covered in the Western media. He observed that even a non-lethal truck bombing in Iraq or abduction in Afghanistan garners more attention from the Western media in a single day than the Congo does in an average month of 30,000 dead.

Even the recent massacre of at least 300 unarmed Congolese citizens by the M23 rebel group on November 29, 2022, in Kishishe, eastern Congo, did not make headlines in the West. The Congolese government denounced and condemned the massacre of 300 people, including 17 children, at churches and hospitals by M23 rebels on Monday, December 5, and called for a three-day national mourning period for those who perished. According to human rights investigations, the M23 carried out random aggression with weapons or knives/machetes, murdering hundreds of people, raping at least 22 women and five girls, and maiming many more, and the civilian properties were plundered. To me, this all sounds like a newsworthy story that the responsible media should share.

Why doesn’t the media cover the Congo? Is it that newspaper editors are still stuck in the old mindset that no one is interested in African stories, presuming that their audiences only see dismal African problems that can never be solved and are hence unworthy of anyone’s attention? These are the difficulties we deal with on a daily basis at the Congo Peace Academy as we work toward our mission of fostering peace, justice, and sustainable development in the eastern Congo. More information is accessible at www.congopeaceacademy.edu.

Reference:

1. International Crisis Group, 14 June 2005 https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-congo/congo-1000-die-day-why-isnt-it-media-story#:~:text=What%20the%20world%20media%20are,manmade%20horrors%2C%20such%20as%20Darfur.
2. UNHCR, Operation Data Portal, 30 Nov 2022 https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/drc
3. OCHA, Reliefweb, 4 Jan 2022 https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/democratic-republic-congo-humanitarian-crisis-dg-echo-un-ingos-echo
4. Caritas, 24 Feb 2010, https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war/
5. TV5Monde, 6 December 2022 https://information.tv5monde.com/afrique/rdc-rwanda-le-bilan-du-massacre-de-kishise-passe-plus-de-300-morts-480992
6. France24, 6 December 2022 https://www.france24.com/fr/afrique/20221206-massacre-de-kishishe-le-gouvernement-de-rd-congo-%C3%A9voque-autour-de-300-morts