DRC: The Cost of War
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Stephanie Kale
KIGALI, Nov 8 (IPS) – War is expensive. The costs include not only the millions of dollars spent on military equipment and maintaining an army, but the financial and psychological toll it takes on the everyday lives of people caught in the crossfire.
When fighting takes place where civilians live, as it is in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, farming, housing, health care, businesses and education are all interrupted in armed conflict, and the long-term effects in the North Kivu region have been devastating.
Ten year-old Immacule arrived at Kibati refugee camp 12 kilometres north of Goma on Oct. 27 after her family fled their village fearing attacks by Tutsi-led rebels.
She said she misses going to school. ”I want the government to find peace for us so that I can return home and go back to school.”
Since fighting resumed in August between the rebel National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and the Congolese army, 250,000 people have been displaced in the North Kivu Region.
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