Normally when I come across an article or news story regarding the conflict in eastern Congo, I submit it as a news link in the hopes that it will capture the attention of the reader and awareness of that hellish situation will spread. But I read an article today in the Times Online that I have to talk about. Please read it here.

 

The title of the article, “Yesterday a victim, today an oppressor, how aid funds war in Congo” is wrapped in intrigue and tied with a bow of truth. This is a powerful article exposing the raw and painful truth of the war in Congo.

 

A candle light service is being held in Rwanda tonight to commemorate the 800,000 victims of the 1994 genocide. Yet, there will not be a service held for the over 5 million Congolese killed in the aftermath of the genocide. What many don’t realize is that the conflict in eastern Congo is a direct result of Rwandan's rebels leaders invading Congo.

 

Immediately following the Rwandan genocide, western aid money flooded into Rwandan on waves of guilt due to idle hands during the time when they should have been busy ending the terror before it began. That aid money has fanned the flames of war in Congo since.

 

I have some general question regarding  how we, as created beings, have gotten in the habit of deciding who is worthy of being helped and when the help should be given. Here’s what I mean:

 

• The US attacks on 9/11 killed 2,973 people. The world grieved.
• Far more people are killed due to violence daily, most of whose stories will never be told. What about them?

 

• A deadly earthquake strikes Italy this past Monday. Five days later it is still making headlines.
• Yet 396,000 infants die each year in Pakistan alone due to malnutrition. Why has this not attracted popular media attention?

 

• One man is held captive off the coast of Somalia and he’s instantly famous.
• Twenty-seven million people, mostly women and children are held captive, enslaved by human traffickers around the world every day. Will they ever be rescued and will the world ever know their names?

 

• 800,000 die in Rwandan genocide and the world reacts. The world suddenly knows where Rwanda is and cares. A movie is even made out of the terror the Rwandans faced.
• 5.4 million and counting, people have violently died since 1994 in Congo. Yet the world turns a deaf ear to the relentless cries of the suffering.

 

Who decides what injustices are brought into light and which remain silenced and shoved in the closet of our minds? Clearly all of the above examples are awful and possess layers of tragedies within them. But why is it that there seems to be greater importance placed on certain people’s lives while many others are overlooked?

 

The war in Congo has claimed the lives of five times as many people as the genocides in Rwanda and Darfur combined. So why is so little being done to put an end to it? When will enough be enough? As my friend and partner in ministry said about the situation, “One can ignore the truth but only for so long.” When will we stop ignoring the cries of the innocent and work together to bring the heart of darkness into the light of Christ? 

Today is Good Friday. The day we remember the death of Jesus Christ, hung on a wooden cross in our place. Was he not also on that cross for the people of Congo? Is it or is it not our responsibility to help usher in light and life in a dark and dying world? Jesus said in the book of John, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” What is taking place this very minute in the heart of darkness, while you are reading this, needs some serious rays of light to invade its space.

 

Will you join me in praying for a blanket of light to cover the Congo this Easter weekend? Will you pray for the reconciling work that Jesus accomplished on the cross to put into an unstopable force of action in the Congo?

 

I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16