This week, up to 400 people from nearly 30 states will join together for the first time to ask Congress and the Bush administration to do more to end the humanitarian crisis the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The event, called Congo Lobby Day, takes place April 1. It is the first-ever organized lobbying effort on behalf of the volatile central African country. During meetings with Members of Congress and representatives from the State Department, participants will ask for better policies toward DRC, including:
÷ Greater engagement in ongoing peace efforts
÷ More funding for humanitarian response, and
÷ Ending sexual violence against women, particularly in the eastern region of DRC
"The problems facing the DRC are complex, and it's been easy to ignore them," said Rory Anderson, deputy director for advocacy and government relations at World Vision. "But our national security, our international credibility, and our universal humanity demand that we respond to these problems and empower the Congolese people to improve their lives. That's what these Americans are coming together to do."
Experts on the Congo (listed below) will be available for interview to discuss the many challenges facing the country, as well as ongoing efforts to encourage U.S. engagement to address them:
÷ Dr. Denis Mukwege Mukengere, Director, Panzi Hospital in DRC
o Mukengere can speak to sexual violence against women (in French with a translator)
÷ Rory Anderson, Deputy Director, Advocacy and Government Relations, World Vision, U.S.
o Anderson can address the exploitation of children as soldiers and as laborers
÷ Krista Riddley, Director, Humanitarian Policy, Oxfam America
o Riddley recently returned from trip to eastern DRC and can discuss the humanitarian issues facing those affected by the conflict in the eastern region
Please contact Maura Hart or Amy Parodi (listed above) to schedule interviews.
Spillover from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda sparked a conflict in the eastern DRC that has, to date, caused the deaths of more than 5 million people. Half of these deaths were in children under the age of five. Most are the result of malnutrition, disease and lack of access to health care as a result of the conflict. The DRC's vast natural resources, ironically, have prolonged the conflict and have worsened the poverty of most Congolese as bordering nations continue to de-stabilize the DRC in order to pillage and smuggle resources into their own countries.
Congo Lobby Day is organized by Congo Global Action, with particular support from CARE, Oxfam and World Vision.
Congo Global Action is a global alliance of humanitarian, human rights, environmental, and faith-based organizations, students, members of the Congolese Diaspora and other grassroots movements. With the help of all who share our concern, we advocate for the Congolese people to ensure a healthy, safe and prosperous Democratic Republic of Congo.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A Tibetan woman breastfeeds her child after shaving his head at a community centre in Kathmandu April 7, 2008. Dozens of Tibetans shaved their heads in protest against China's crackdown in ...
