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TechnoratiBritish aid group Oxfam said in a statement last week that the “world is failing in its responsibility to protect Congo’s innocent civilians.” Oxfam also reported incidents of forced labor, rape and widespread brutality inflicted upon civilians.
Congo is home to the world’s largest U.N. peacekeeping operation and will have more than 20,000 troops and police after the additional troops are deployed.
Its infamous 1998-2002 war, which was the largest war in modern African history that involved eight African nations and some 25 armed groups, resulted in an estimated 5 million deaths, according to some estimates.
The recent conflict in eastern Congo, which is about the size of France, has displaced more than a quarter of a million people.
Lynne Hybels, advocate for Global Engagement at Chicago-area megachurch Willow Creek Community Church and wife of the church’s pastor Bill Hybels, has called on Christians to be more involved in helping victims of the Congo conflict.
“In the Congo, a major weapon of mass destruction is rape. In some villages as many as 95 percent of the women and girl in that village have been raped,” Hybels said in a video posted on the Web site of Christian aid group World Relief.
Hybels and World Relief urge Christians to do three things: learn more about what is happening, to pray for the country and its people, and to donate financially to help support the displaced civilians.
The Anglican Church, meanwhile, has called for a day of prayer for peace in the Congo this Sunday, Nov. 23.
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