Congo is in the news again this week as rebels advanced to the outskirts of Goma, the eastern regional capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (the "Congo"), before unilaterally declaring a ceasefire and halting their advance. Diplomats from the West have also stepped up efforts to make the rebels' temporary ceasefire into something more lasting.   http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1855735,00.htm...

Five million people are estimated to have died in the conflict in the Congo over the past decade. The refugee situation in the Congo has become increasingly dire. It is estimated that more than 1.6 million people have been displaced within the country and many of these are without food, water or other necessities of life. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081103/ts_afp/drcongounrest  

Regretfully it is the children of the Congo who bear a disproportionate share of the hardship. UNICEF estimates that over 60% of the refugees in the Congo are children. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081102/ap_on_re_af/af_congo_fig...
Thousands of already malnourished children are sleeping out in the open in refugee camps with cold rain coming down and drenching them. The lucky ones are those whose mothers may have been able to find a small piece of plastic covering to try to keep them dry.

Many aid workers and refugees were forced to flee the area as the rebel troops advanced. Food is in short supply in the refugee camps in eastern Congo and malaria and acute diarrhea are taking their toll on the children as well. Jaya Murthy, the UNICEF spokesperson in Goma warned that the situation in eastern Congo "could have catastrophic consequences for hundreds of thousands of children who are weak, hungry and vulnerable to killer diseases, ....  If there is no immediate help many could die."

Focusing the eyes of the world on the reality of the situation in the Congo is an important first step but is not enough by itself. Food and medical assistance needs to reach the displaced refugees in the Congo immediately to avoid an even greater catastrophe. You can rush financial aid to help the refugee children of Congo through groups like Oxfam http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/where_we_work/drc.ht...
and UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/drcongo.html which are already on the ground there. Pressure needs to be put on and kept up on the various sides to the military conflict in the Congo to reach a diplomatic solution to the present armed conflict. And finally the systematic rape of women and children in the Congo by troops fighting on both sides of the conflict must be stopped and those responsible for such human rights abuses be held accountable for their actions. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/11/60minutes/printabl...