*Ø* Blogmanac | What did you do during the African Holocaust?
Nicholas D. Kristof in the New York Times:
"In Congo, in which I've had a special interest ever since Tutsi rebels chased me through the jungle there for several days in 1997, 3.3 million people have died because of warfare there in the last five years, according to a study by the International Rescue Committee. That's half a Holocaust in a single country.

Our children and grandchildren may fairly ask, "So, what did you do during the African holocaust?"

Some African nations, like Uganda, Mauritius, Ghana and Mozambique, are booming; they show that African countries can thrive. But the failures outnumber the successes: child mortality rose in the 1990's in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia; primary school enrollments dropped in Cameroon, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania; the number of malnourished children is growing across the continent.

"We are losing the battle against hunger," warns James Morris, the head of the World Food Program.

So it's time to rethink this continent. Africa itself has largely failed, and Western policies toward it have mostly failed as well."

Full article

See Wilson's Almanac on the Congo