SISTERS

Carol Guzy

The Washington Post

Summary, This series covers the conflict in Eastern Congo and the UN led effort to bring peace. The deadliest since WWII, it persists in part because of the plundering of the Congo's immense mineral wealth by militias and neighboring countries. Ethnic strife that has torn the Great Lakes region apart is also a factor. A recent referendum on the constitution and elections planned for 2006 offer hope for this Western-Europe sized country that hosts the UN's most expensive and amibitious undertaking in the world. In the war-ravaged eastern provinces of the D.R. Congo in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, MONUC (the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission to the Congo) has given militias until April 1st to turn in their weapons and join the de-mobilization and re-integration program run by the UNDP (United Nations Development Program). Although the program had been in effect for months, there had been limited disarmament. Once the deadline had been set, a flood of militiamen, including child soldiers, suddenly entered the program. Caption, 26.03.05 Fishermen ply their age-old trade on Lake Albert, despite the turmoil that has engulfed the Great Lakes Region in recent years.

Carol Guzy, "SISTERS," in POYi Archive, Item #36642, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/36642 (accessed November 22, 2024).