We All Share Responsibility for the Congo, by Janice Kamenir-Reznik

I have been to the Kivu provinces in eastern Congo many times over the past five years. From outward appearances, it seems that life here has not changed much since my first visit. A never-ending parade of rebel groups continues to kill, rape and enslave civilians as they vie for control of Congo’s vast mineral wealth. The government at best is wholly ineffective in protecting the civilian population, and at worst is complicit, corrupt and kleptocratic. Whether the biggest threat is the M23Rebel group, the CNDP, the FDLR, the LRA, the Mai Mai militia, the ADF or one of the other groups involved in Congo conflicts is less important than the fact that there is no peace for the millions of people living in the Kivus. The violence caused by these armed groups is unspeakably brutal and has ripped apart the lives of the Congolese, many of whom have been left broken, isolated, bereft and yearning to have their country restored to wholeness.